Dugway Proving Ground
Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a United States Army test and evaluation facility located in Tooele County, Utah, approximately 85 miles southwest of Salt Lake City in the Great Salt Lake Desert, encompassing over 1,250 square miles (800,000+ acres) of remote terrain. Founded in 1942 following the Pearl Harbor attacks to test chemical and biological defense systems, DPG operates under the US Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) with a primary acknowledged mission of testing biological and chemical weapons, nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) survivability, and aerospace systems. Often referred to as "Area 52" by UFO researchers, Dugway rose to prominence in the late 1990s as the alleged successor to Area 51's clandestine UAP programs following heavy public exposure of the Nevada site.
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History and Official Mission
Dugway was established in 1942 with the mission to test US and Allied chemical and biological defense systems, prompted by the urgent need to enhance military capabilities following the 1941 Pearl Harbor attacks. The facility's official mission includes performing nuclear, biological, and chemical survivability testing and training of defense materiel using chemical and biological agents and simulants. The Utah proving ground employs state-of-the-art laboratories and chambers to conduct testing and training under environmentally controlled conditions.
DPG has participated in the global war on terrorism, conducting Special Forces mission rehearsals, classified testing, and biochemical urgent-need equipment testing. The site has a history of supporting unmanned aerial systems test operations. According to a 2021 US Army mission and capabilities overview, Dugway employs a total of 2,120 personnel: 784 primarily Army and Air Force contractors, 622 primary mission and installation contracting command personnel (including on-site security), and 486 military or defense agency civilians.
Partner Agencies and Contractors
Dugway partners with numerous US military, government, and intelligence agencies including the US Army, US Navy, SOCOM (Special Operations Command), the 388th Range Squadron out of Hill Air Force Base, Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Interior, NASA, and three universities including Utah State University. Utah State employs a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) called the Space Dynamics Laboratory for the Missile Defense Agency at Dugway—a significant detail given UAP researchers' assertions that UARCs and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) serve as key contributors and project managers for joint corporate-government UAP legacy programs.
Major contractors operating at Dugway include C Martin Company (facility operations, maintenance, range operations—employed witness "MS" from 2009-2013), Battelle Memorial Institute (chemical/biological defense information analysis, facility design, program management), and Jacobs Solutions (range testing and lab services).
Major Range and Test Facility Bases (MRTFBs)
Dugway houses two of the Department of Defense's 23 designated Major Range and Test Facility Bases (MRTFBs)—the "critical core" of DOD test and evaluation infrastructure comprising over 10 million acres, 25,000+ employees, and over $4 billion in annual acknowledged funding:
West Desert Test Center (WDTC): The primary Army MRTFB at Dugway, spearheaded by Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC). Operations are centered at Ditto Technical Center and include the Avery Technical Center and Michael Army Airfield. According to a 2013 GAO report, about 77% of acknowledged work at WDTC was conducted for the Joint Services Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP).
Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) - Southern Area: The Air Force MRTFB shared between Dugway and nearby Hill Air Force Base, operated in part by Hill's 388th Range Squadron. The southern range includes Michael Army Airfield, which the 388th uses for air testing and training.
This joint Army-Air Force MRTFB structure has led researchers to theorize a joint-service UFO reverse engineering program operating between WDTC and UTTR, similar to witness "Ed's" claims of a joint program between Edwards Air Force Base 412th Test Wing and Nevada Test and Training Range.
Key Facilities
Avery Technical Center: A 40-acre area bordering Michael Army Airfield, historically used for radiobiological warfare studies and handling of radioactive materials for the Atomic Energy Commission. Avery employs an internal rail system for transporting radioactive materials. Key buildings include Test Operations (Building 1010), Classified Storage (Building 1016), Photo Operations and Maintenance (Building 1012), General Storage (Building 1038), and Avery Tunnel Entrance (Building 102). Avery is conspicuously absent from DPG visitor guides despite being a major facility.
Michael Army Airfield: Shared airfield between Dugway and Hill Air Force Base's 388th Range Squadron, used for aerospace testing including the Lockheed Martin X-33 hypersonic vehicle program. The airfield is nestled within the West Desert Test Center.
Ditto Technical Center: Houses the operational heart of the West Desert Test Center, including the Garrison building where witness "MS" was interrogated following his 2009 encounter.
Granite Peak: Restricted sub-installation within Dugway surrounded by 388th Range Squadron infrastructure including radar stations and threat emitter systems. Granite Peak is alleged to sit above the primary underground facility.
Structure and Infrastructure
Dugway is among the largest restricted military installations in the continental United States. Its remote location surrounded by three mountain ranges, salt flats, and desert terrain provides natural security through geography and isolation free from urban encroachment, light pollution, and excess acoustic and electronic noise. The site is protected by armed personnel and "black op helicopters" that intercept approaching civilians, making it ideal for clandestine and classified military test and evaluation.
Satellite imagery analysis has identified what appears to be a small, inconspicuous surface building in the desert between German Village and Avery Technical Center, which witness "MS" identified to UAP Gerb as the entrance—an elevator shaft concealed within the structure—to the underground facility. According to witness "MS's" source "GP," a senior DOD chemist working in legacy operations at Dugway, this entrance provides personnel-only access (no logistics, supplies, or equipment), with all materiel supplied internally via underground tunnel connections to other facilities.
Witness MS 2009 Encounter
In 2009, C Martin contractor and former US Navy serviceman "MS" was assigned to read electrical meters across Dugway facilities. Four months into his employment, this task led him to Avery Technical Center where he entered an unmarked, unnumbered building referred to as the "ghost building"—believed to be Building 1010 (Test Operations). Upon entry, MS was held at gunpoint by armed guards believed to be Industrial Security (INDC) personnel, not conventional private security contractors.
Inside what MS described as a clean room, he observed approximately six lab technicians (believed to be ATCH and Battelle Memorial Institute scientists) surrounding a hovering disc craft approximately 10 feet tall and 20 feet in circumference. The craft:
- Hovered 10-12 inches off the ground under its own power with no noise
- Had a brushed metal appearance with no seams, fasteners, or visible construction—appearing to be made of one seamless piece
- Featured a bottom conical section that appeared to be floating independently, drawing parallels to Bob Lazar's described extraterrestrial reactor propulsion system
- Was accompanied by a flat-screen electronic display showing what appeared to be a mapping/navigation system
MS was immediately detained and taken to the Garrison building at Ditto Technical Center, where he was interrogated for six hours by two men in black suits speculated to be FBI, CIA, or NSA personnel. Despite the interrogation, MS maintained he was simply performing his assigned duties and had no idea what he had witnessed.
In subsequent months and years, MS discussed his encounter with colleagues, including a senior DOD chemist working in legacy operations at Dugway identified by the pseudonym "GP." GP confirmed the craft was extraterrestrial, operated via gravity displacement propulsion, and that the mapping display could generate reference points to create a wormhole for point-to-point interstellar travel. GP also disclosed details about Dugway's alleged deep underground military base (DUMB).
MS was approached by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to testify regarding his claims and has shared evidence of this outreach, but declined due to work obligations as a current railroad employee, even though SSCI offered to pay for his travel.
Alleged Deep Underground Military Base (DUMB)
According to witness "GP," a senior DOD chemist in legacy operations at Dugway:
Size and Structure: The underground facility spans approximately 1,300 square miles beneath Dugway—matching the surface facility's footprint. At an undisclosed depth, the facility is allegedly located primarily beneath Granite Peak. The surface entrance (identified by Steven Greer on the Disclosure Project Archive and located near German Village between Avery and the UTTR southern area) consists solely of an elevator shaft for personnel access.
Transportation Network: The DUMB connects to other underground facilities nationwide via a light rail system wide enough to transport enormous aircraft including a 747. These rail systems operate using magnetic levitation (maglev) technology. All logistics, supplies, equipment, food, and materiel for the Dugway DUMB are supplied internally through these tunnel connections—not through the surface entrance. GP stated this maglev network could "transport the president's plane basically anywhere they need to without putting it in the air," suggesting a continuity of government (COG) function.
Supporting Evidence: A current railroad co-worker of MS has confirmed the existence of the underground facility and claimed to have assisted in digging the tunneling system beneath DPG. This individual is being contacted for further testimony. The 1981-1982 joint workshop on "Technology for the Design and Construction of Deep Underground Defense Facilities" by the US National Research Council, which included the Bureau of Reclamation as a key member, establishes that large-scale underground military construction was being actively studied during this period. Los Alamos National Laboratory published research in 1986 on subsurface transportation tunnels using maglev systems.
Historical UAP Connections
1953 Garrison Utah UFO Crash: Less than one month after and only 200 miles north of the famous Kingman, Arizona crash, an alleged UFO crash retrieval occurred near Garrison, Utah—less than 10 miles from the southwest edge of Dugway's West Desert Test Center. UFO researcher Steve Jones investigated the case extensively in the 1990s, documenting large aerial photos dated June 1953 depicting a triangular-shaped ground feature at the Desert Range Experimental Station (DRES), a remote facility managed by the US Forest Service on Dugway's southwestern border. A DRES logbook from 1979-1980 recorded peculiar entries including "USAF and Army personnel from Fort Carson Colorado," "USAF Command Center personnel," and defense contractor representatives. Local resident Bart Wright claimed to have seen a strange blue light streak across the sky and crash near the site as a child, causing the ground to shake and sky to light up. Geologist Lamont Sorenson conducted magnetometer and seismic tests in 1999, finding no underground anomalies but concluding the triangular formation appeared to be created by artificial digging, not natural geological processes.
1967 Provo Utah ARV Sighting: USAF Captain Harvey Williams photographed a disc-shaped craft in 1967 while flying a C-47 at 12,000 feet over Provo, Utah—only 100 miles from Dugway and less than 75 miles from Hill Air Force Base. The photographed object bears striking resemblance to the "Fluxliner" alien reproduction vehicle (ARV) documented by Mark McCandlish and witnessed by Brad Sorenson at the 1988 Norton Air Force Base air show. The disc featured what appeared to be protective acrylic bubble housings for larger cameras (consistent with 1960s camera technology) compared to the smaller synthetic vision system bubbles observed on the 1988 Fluxliner, suggesting an evolutionary development of the same ARV design. The low-altitude sighting location near both Dugway and Hill Air Force Base, which share airspace and runways through the UTTR and Michael Army Airfield, suggests possible testing operations.
1997 Popular Mechanics "New Area 51" Article: In June 1997, Popular Mechanics published an article titled "The New Area 51" discussing the Air Force allegedly abandoning its most secretive Nevada site for a new, more private location. The article identified Michael Army Airfield at Dugway as a prime candidate, noting a 1996 NASA announcement that Michael AAF would serve as a runway for Lockheed Martin X-33 hypersonic vehicle missions (produced at the Palmdale Skunk Works facility). The magazine noted Michael AAF possessed equally if not more deterring surroundings than Area 51, bordered by mountain ranges, salt flats, and 1,300 square miles of restricted range. Popular Mechanics attempted flyovers to photograph the area but were warned of being shot down; attempts to purchase satellite imagery were denied due to "security reasons."
Edgar Fouche TR-3B Claims: USAF Master Sergeant Edgar Fouche stated in his 1998 IUFOC presentation that beginning in 1992, the Air Force conducted a contingency plan due to massive public attention on Area 51, relocating the majority of exotic platforms to Utah, Colorado, Alaska, Greenland, Diego Garcia, and south of Area 51 to S4. An unnamed source informed Fouche that between 35-40% of Area 51's clandestine operations moved to Dugway.
Steven Greer Disclosures: Dr. Steven Greer has discussed Dugway extensively since the 1990s, calling it "the most critical" black program facility in a 2016 presentation. In 2000, witness "AH" (a former Boeing employee with contacts at NSA, CIA, NASA, JPL, ONI, NRO, Area 51, Air Force, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing) testified on film for Greer's 2001 Disclosure briefing document that 35-40% of Area 51 operations had moved to an underground Utah installation southwest of Salt Lake City, accessible only by air, that tests and maintains extraterrestrial technology. Pre-dating these public disclosures, emails between Greer and UFO researcher Steve Jones in March 1998 reveal Jones had learned from field research that work from Area 51/Groom Lake had been moved to Dugway,to an area called "Dog West" of the main gate. Even earlier, a 1996 email exchange between Greer and oil & gas executive AJ Katok (Tony Katok, founder/CEO of Katok International) featured an "Area 51 insider" claiming nine exclusion zones existed southwest of Tooele County/west of Salt Lake City, with four featuring underground locations—a description matching Dugway. This discussion predated the 1997 Popular Mechanics article, Fouche's disclosures, and AH's testimony. Greer featured witness MS at his June 2023 National Press Club whistleblower symposium, revealing the Avery sector DUMB details publicly.
Battelle Memorial Institute Leadership Connections
The director of Dugway's West Desert Test Center, Ryan W. Harris, is a former Battelle Memorial Institute project manager. Harris holds a bachelor's in chemical engineering and served as an Army chemical officer before accepting a project manager position with Battelle at Dugway in 2000, overseeing several testing and training programs. In 2004, Harris transitioned to a project manager position directly with Dugway, eventually rising to WDTC test director by 2012, where he now "evaluates all aspects of the work for the chemical, biological, and other acquisition test and training programs executed by the test center." This career path—Battelle project manager to director of the primary Army MRTFB where UAP legacy programs are alleged—is striking.
Similar patterns exist with other WDTC leadership: Greg Frank served as a chemist for Dugway's Chemical Laboratory Division (1984-1985), directing and performing chemical studies while developing procedures for chemical testing using modern analytical instrumentation. After leaving Army service in 1985, Frank joined Battelle as project manager and principal investigator managing "both technical and financial aspects of numerous projects in chemical and biological defense." As of 2008, Frank served as Executive Vice President for Battelle Science and Technology International, responsible for over 5,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff.
Anders Woborg, former director of the special programs division at WDTC, also worked for Battelle prior to Dugway service, serving as a test director responsible for testing of chemical and biological defense equipment.
Battelle's presence at Dugway extends beyond leadership: the institute operates the Chemical and Biological Defense Information Analysis Center (CBIAC) at DPG, manages numerous biochem facilities including the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) FFRDC at Fort Detrick (also cited as a possible UAP biologics storage location), and has documented facility design/construction capabilities including "enclosed testing facilities and sealed structures at DPG that meet stringent containment standards providing a degree of protection that has never been achieved before." Given witness MS described the craft being studied in a "clean room," Battelle's specialized clean room construction capabilities at Dugway warrant investigation.
Thesis: Joint Army-Air Force UAP Legacy Program
Based on the structure, witness testimony, and historical connections, UAP Gerb researchers theorize a joint Army-Air Force MRTFB UAP legacy program operating at Dugway between:
Army Component - West Desert Test Center (WDTC/ATEC): Responsible for materiel exploitation, laboratory analysis, clean room operations, and underground storage/study. Centered at Avery Technical Center with internal rail transport of craft and materials. Utilizes top chemistry and biology subject matter experts from ATEC and CBDP, potentially studying biologics or craft propulsion chemistry. Underground operations housed in the DUMB beneath Granite Peak.
Air Force Component - Utah Test and Training Range (388th Range Squadron/Hill AFB): Responsible for flight testing of reverse-engineered craft or alien reproduction vehicles (ARVs). Utilizes Michael Army Airfield as primary runway and the southern UTTR ranges for aerospace testing operations, similar to how Edwards 412th Test Wing and Nevada Test and Training Range allegedly operated jointly per witness "Ed."
This structure mirrors known joint MRTFB programs and explains the 1967 Provo ARV sighting location (directly between Dugway and Hill AFB), the shared Michael Army Airfield operations, 388th Range Squadron infrastructure surrounding Granite Peak, and the secrecy surrounding Avery Technical Center.