Barking Sands Missile Range

Barking Sands Missile Range is by far one of the most important military facilities controlled by the United States Navy. The facility includes an actual military base and an airfield. It is located in Hawaii, in Kaual County. Its importance is given by the fact that it is the largest and most varied military base in the world. The location is just as important. The professionals working there benefit from excellent weather conditions all over the year, while the isolation around it makes it excellent for a wide variety of tests and training sessions. Other than that, it holds another record. It is the one and only military installation in the world that can support multiple operations for planes, ships, spaceships and submarines at the same time.

The base controls around 110,000 square kilometers of airspace and almost 3,000 square kilometers of underwater space. As for the actual base, it barely spreads over a little under 1,000 acres. The main runway is almost 2 kilometer long. The military purpose of this installation is obvious, especially since the actual base is not that large. There are less than 70 units for housing and a few basic facilities. It is not the type of base you can feel like home at, but the type of base that turns a professional into an expert. Barking Sands Missile Range is also cooperating and using some of the facilities from three other bases, not to mention about the radar it tests on a nearby island.

History

The place Barking Sands Missile Range lays on today was once owned by a private company that built a few runways for private planes. It was commissioned in 1921. The US Army took over the land almost two decades later, in 1940. The place was established as the Mana Airport. One year later, the army acquired more land. The runways were used for both military and civilian flights. The base played a major role during World War II. With a new name taken in 1954, the range began its ascension as a testing ground. The first missile tests occurred only two years later.

The transition from the US Army to the US Navy was done in 1964. That is when Barking Sands Missile Range was renamed to what it is today. The activity on site was not as intensive anymore after the latest wars of the 20-th century. One major event occurred when North Korea threatened the United States of America with a few Taepodong missiles. The US Navy immediately deployed some of the popular THAAD devices on site. The THAAD batteries can easily intercept the missiles and destroy them before they reach their targets.

Some other great system that has been recently tested is the Aegis Defense System. According to most tests, it is the most effective one the US Navy has in the arsenal so far. Each missile has the capacity to intercept and destroy two targets at the same time. The first tests began in 2007 and still go on.