Abstract The U.S. Army will continue to be involved in desert warfare for the foreseeable future. It is imperative that military equipment is designed and tested for use in this environment; that soldiers are trained to operate in the desert; and that they can accomplish their missions under the extreme conditions presented by this distinct operating environment. Understanding desert processes and terrain is fundamental to accomplishing these goals. Scientists have long debated demarcation and classification of deserts, considering many measurable factors. However, few have classified deserts in a way that specifically supports the military missions of operating, training, and testing. This research was undertaken to classify deserts using both physical and military variables and to develop a system that examines deserts from a military perspective. A panel of scientists and military officers developed and tested a model of warm and hot desert classification. The robustness of the model was tested at the Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. This work is a preliminary step toward a thorough examination of desert training and testing sites and potential conflict areas in desert locations throughout the world.

Abstract Department of Defense military land use of the desert southwest includes a wide spectrum of military weapons testing, force-on-force training, and various types of flight training. The desert southwest provides a critical asset for the U.S. military— open space. Installations in the desert southwest tend to be much larger than installations in other regions of the nation, with several exceeding 400,000 ha. This open-space asset has allowed the military to historically establish large training areas and ranges on installations and to define expansive air maneuver regions above these ranges and above the vast public lands of other agencies. It also offers critical training and testing areas that are analogs to similar worldwide environments where the military operates. Training and testing activities are conducted in the three-dimensional land and air space that replicates the modern battle space. Land and air space use is highly variable among installations depending on mission requirements. Natural resource management challenges include the large spatial extent of lands and air space under Department of Defense management, highly variable military land-use requirements, significant endangered species regulatory and conservation requirements, encroachment and Base Realignment and Closure requirements, competition for water resources, and climate change. Department of Defense natural resource managers attempt to meet these challenges through interagency cooperative agreements, integrated natural resource management plans, and Department of Defense sustainable range programs.