While stumping for Republican candidates in Kalispell Wednesday night, President Donald Trump announced plans for a military testing range in Montana.
“I’m pleased to inform you and announce that, right here in Montana, the Department of War is going to establish a new super range for testing advanced weapons and technology,” Trump told the crowd.
He didn’t specify a location for the site but said it could support testing of “potential autonomous weapons,” space and electronic warfare technology, as well as supersonic and hypersonic weapons that travel at speeds of Mach 1 and Mach 5, respectively.
“Montana will help ensure the American military always reigns supreme,” Trump said.
U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy issued a statement Thursday morning that the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which has not yet reached a full Senate vote, includes $10 million for a feasibility study for an advanced training range in Montana. Sheehy said in his statement that the evolving battlefield requires evolving technologies and that Montana’s military legacy and vast tracts of land make it a good choice for testing.
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“The U.S. faces a clear choice: adapt and expand our development infrastructure to the realities of modern warfare, or risk falling behind adversaries who iterate faster,” Sheehy’s statement said in part. “Montana is uniquely positioned to spearhead the development of the next generation of instruments for the warfighter.”
In his speech Wednesday, Trump said that Sheehy and fellow U.S. Senator Steve Daines had repeatedly lobbied for the testing range in Montana.
The news agency Reuters pointed out that the state is already home to the Montana Spaceport and Test Range and the Montana Innovation Campus, which are public-private aerospace projects with sites near Helena, Billings and Townsend. It’s not known if the forthcoming super range will involve these facilities.
Montana Democratic Party Chair Bruce Knutson issued a statement Thursday criticizing the announcement’s lack of detail.
“But announcing a massive military testing facility at a campaign rally without explaining where it will go, how much it will cost, who will be affected or what it means for our public lands is no way to conduct serious national defense policy,” Knutson’s statement said in part. “Montana is not an empty patch of ground for Washington to do whatever it pleases.”
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