Montana Super Range: Trump Announces Weapons Test Site
The Montana Super Range Trump announced on Wednesday would give the Pentagon a new proving ground for next-generation weapons, with the president unveiling the plan at a campaign rally in Kalispell.
Speaking in the northwest Montana city, Trump said the Department of War would establish the new range to test advanced military technologies, including autonomous weapons, space systems, electronic warfare, and supersonic and hypersonic weapons. “Montana will help ensure the American military always reigns supreme,” he told the crowd, per Reuters.
What the Range Would Test
The announcement covered the technologies military planners increasingly see as central to the future of warfare: autonomous weapons, space-based systems, electronic warfare tools, and missiles that travel above Mach 1 — with hypersonic weapons pushing past Mach 5.
The emphasis on unmanned and AI-enabled systems reflects a Pentagon push toward drones and automated platforms that can operate at lower cost and with less risk to military personnel. Trump has long promoted military space power, creating the Space Force as a separate service branch in 2019, and the new range would add another venue for testing space and electronic warfare capabilities alongside more conventional weapons.
A Midterm Swing Stop
The Kalispell announcement came on the president’s latest stop of a midterm tour backing Republican candidates in multiple states ahead of the November 3 elections, as the party faces unexpectedly tight contests even in Republican-leaning states. Kalispell, a city of about 30,000 people roughly 200 miles northwest of Helena, hosted the rally — the same Montana appearance where Trump separately name-checked Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.
Montana is not new to defense testing. The state is already home to the Montana Spaceport & Test Range and the affiliated Limestone Hills Innovation & Test Campus, a public-private aerospace and defense initiative that promotes testing facilities and infrastructure for commercial, civil and military use. Trump did not say whether the new Pentagon initiative would connect with the existing project, leaving details on location, timeline and funding to be filled in.
Source: Reuters