Officials say Michigan’s NADWIC named a deep UAS training range; experiments draw contractors and Pentagon attention

Brigadier General Dan Kramer told the House Committee on Homeland Security and Foreign Influence that Michigan’s NADWIC (referred to in testimony as Nadwick) has been identified as a federal deep unmanned aerial systems training range and is already hosting industry experimentation and joint exercises.

Kramer said the state’s geography, restricted airspace (including a Lake Huron maritime corridor), large maneuver areas in northern Michigan and existing cyber and space experimentation capabilities make Michigan ‘‘an ideal four‑seasons all‑domain training environment.’’ He said the Navy/DoD selection as a deep UAS training range brought a ‘‘drone dominance’’ event to Camp Grine with more than 100 contractors demonstrating systems and competing for follow‑on procurement.

Committee members asked about counter‑UAS (C‑UAS) capabilities and authorities. Kramer said defending bases requires both detection and legal authority to ‘‘remove’’ threats; he described rapid innovation on both offense and defense and the challenge of operating near civilian infrastructure. ‘‘You’ve got to have the authorities to remove the threat,’’ Kramer said, while noting that some civilian rulemaking (for example on civil airspace and law‑enforcement authorities) remains a separate track.

Kramer cited benefit streams beyond readiness: industry events and experimentation bring contractors and federal experimentation dollars into the state, and exercises such as Northern Strike and planned Bold Quest experimentation are attracting senior joint leaders and contractors. He said the state’s agreements with research laboratories and the ability to execute commercial test agreements could open new research and development funding streams.

Lawmakers pressed on specifics including the need to build beyond‑visual‑line‑of‑sight corridors for longer UAS flights between Alpena, Camp Grine and Traverse City. Kramer said work is under way to define corridors and obtain necessary Federal Aviation Administration approvals, but that cost and certification timelines remain technical and regulatory challenges.

Kramer emphasized the strategic value: hosting experimentation and training boosts local economies, brings procurement attention, and helps prepare forces for contested environments where drone and counter‑drone tactics evolve rapidly.

The committee did not act on policy in the hearing; Kramer’s testimony centered on program designation, event examples and technical/regulatory constraints.