Proving ground
{{Short description|Place or situation where thing or person is tried or tested}}
{{other uses|Proving ground (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Refimprove|date=June 2014}}
A proving ground is an installation or reservation in which technology such as weapons, military tactics and automobile prototypes are experimented with or tested. Proving grounds can be operated by government bodies or civilian industries. They are distinct from military training areas which are run by the military and intended for the routine training and exercising of troops across the terrain.
Military and government
= Germany =
- Peenemünde Army Research Centre, WW2 guided missile and rocket development and testing centre
=Portugal=
- Field Firing Range of Alcochete, Lisbon and Tagus Valley region, an artillery and bombing range facility opened in 1904, under Portuguese Air Force control since 1993, but also used by other military branches and law enforcement agencies for training purposes. With a surface area of 7,539 hectares, it is located roughly 30 km east of Lisbon. This proving ground is planned to close and relocate (possibly to Mértola, Alentejo{{cite news |last1=Pereira |first1=Helena |last2=Mesquita |first2=Joana |date=15 May 2024 |title=Campo de Tiro da Força Aérea pode ir de Alcochete para Mértola |trans-title=Air Force proving ground may be relocated from Alcochete to Mértola |url=https://www.publico.pt/2024/05/15/politica/noticia/campo-tiro-forca-aerea-ir-alcochete-mertola-2090577 |language=Portuguese |work=Público |location= |access-date=15 December 2024}}) owing to the construction of Luís de Camões Airport (planned to open in 2034).
= Russia / Former Soviet Union =
In Russia, a designated area is usually called a "polygon".
- Kapustin Yar, aerial weapons and rocket test range used by the North Caucasus Military District
- Totskoye Range, test range in Orenburg Oblast, Russia, best known for the Totskoye nuclear exercise, 1954
- Yakutia Challenge, winter test proving ground in Yakutia, Eastern Siberia{{citation needed|reason=need a reliable source for this proving ground|date=January 2018}}
= South Korea =
- Anheung Proving Ground, Taean County{{cite news |url=http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1203462/anheung-proving-ground/ |publisher=Arms Control Wonk |first=Jeffrey |last=Lewis |date=28 June 2017 |title=Anheung Proving Ground |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628195853/http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1203462/anheung-proving-ground/ |archive-date=28 June 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/ArmsControlWonk/status/878626457894789125 |publisher=Twitter |first=Jeffrey |last=Lewis |date=24 June 2017 |access-date=28 June 2017 |title=South Korean President Moon watched a missile test. We don't pay enough attention to South Korea's missiles}}
- Changwon Proving Ground, Changwon City{{cite web|url=https://www.add.re.kr/board?menuId=MENU02262&siteId=SITE00003|title=Changwon Proving Ground|publisher=Agency for Defense Development|date=|archiveurl=|archivedate=|accessdate=|author=}}
- Darakdae Proving Ground, Pocheon City{{cite web|url=https://www.add.re.kr/board?menuId=MENU02978&siteId=null|title=Facilities|publisher=Agency for Defense Development|date=|archiveurl=|archivedate=|accessdate=|author=}}{{cite web|url=https://www.add.re.kr/board?menuId=MENU02976&siteId=null|title=Pocheon (Darakdae Proving Ground)|publisher=Agency for Defense Development|date=|archiveurl=|archivedate=|accessdate=|author=}}
= Sweden =
= United States =
In the United States, there are several military facilities that have been explicitly designated as proving grounds.
- Aberdeen Proving Ground, a United States Army facility in Aberdeen, Maryland. It is the Army's oldest active proving ground, established on 20 October 1917, six months after the United States entered World War I. It was created so that design and testing of ordnance materiel could be carried out in proximity to the nation's industrial and shipping centers at the time.{{citation needed||date=October 2024}}
- Dugway Proving Ground, an active facility operated by the United States Army Test and Evaluation Command in the Great Salt Lake Desert of Utah. Dugway's mission is to test U.S. and Allied biological and chemical weapon defense systems.
- Fort Belvoir Proving Ground, in Fairfax County, Virginia
- Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center, located in Indian Head, Maryland and at one time called the Indian Head Proving Ground
- Jefferson Proving Ground, in Madison, Indiana. It was principally a munitions testing facility of Test and Evaluation Command of the United States Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command. The facility was ordered closed in 1989 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process.
- Pacific Proving Grounds, an inactive U.S. Department of Energy area in the Marshall Islands that were established by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1946 for nuclear weapons testing. It mainly consists of Bikini Atoll, Enewetak Atoll & the surrounding area, and was deactivated in 1963.
- Sandy Hook Proving Ground, in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, was the nation's first such facility. It was created in 1874 and was used as a proving ground until 1919.
- Scituate Proving Ground, a former proving ground in Scituate, Massachusetts, operational from 1918 to 1921
- Yuma Proving Ground, a United States Army facility situated in southwestern La Paz County and western Yuma County in southwestern Arizona, approximately {{convert|30|mi|km|0}} northeast of the city of Yuma. The proving ground is used for testing military equipment and encompasses 1,307.8 square miles (3,387.2 km²) in the Sonoran Desert.
Automotive
Automotive proving grounds{{cite journal |last1=Szalay |first1=Zs. |last2=Nyerges |first2=Á. |last3=Hamar |first3=H. |last4=Hesz |first4=M. |title=Technical Specification Methodology for an Automotive Proving Ground Dedicated to Connected and Automated Vehicles |journal=Periodica Polytechnica Transportation Engineering |date=2017 |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=168-174 |doi=10.3311/PPtr.10708 |url=https://pp.bme.hu/tr/article/view/10708|doi-access=free }} or automotive test tracks serve the automotive industry for road vehicle testing. In the automotive development process, vehicle manufacturers typically test the behaviour of vehicles in various environments and traffic situations. Conventional vehicle testing usually focuses on the dynamic properties of vehicles. Test tracks generally encompass the engineering tasks of vehicle testing and validation.
With the advent of self-driving cars, new proving grounds specially dedicated for them have appeared, and existing conventional proving grounds have been retooled for the testing of highly automated or fully autonomous vehicles.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}
= Automaker-owned =
- Chrysler Proving Grounds
- Ford Proving Grounds
- General Motors Proving Grounds
- Hyundai Ulsan proving ground
- Hyundai Hwaseong proving ground
- Hällered Proving Ground (Volvo Cars){{cite web|url=https://en.saabblog.net/2020/07/07/a-Swedish-test-track-haellered-proving-ground/|title=A Swedish test track. Hällered Proving Ground|publisher=Saab blog|author=Tom|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Mazda Proving Grounds
- Nissan Proving Grounds
- Nardò Ring (Porsche)
- Ehra-Lessien test track (Volkswagen)
= Independent =
- AUREL CZ polygon, Czech Republic
- Applus+ IDIADA proving ground, Spain
- Arctic Falls Proving Grounds, several facilities and locations both outdoors and indoors in and around Älvsbyn, Sweden{{cite web|url=https://www.arcticfalls.se/|title=Arctic Falls|work=Arctic Falls|access-date=15 September 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.european-rubber-journal.com/article/2094061/arctic-falls-expanding-with-new-proving-ground-in-sweden|title=Arctic Falls expanding with new proving ground in Sweden|publisher=European Rubber Journal|url-access=registration|date=1 September 2023|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- [http://www.4activeSystems.at 4activeSystems] Test Track, Traboch, Austria. An all-in-one test track next to 4activeSystems' headquarters, an testing equipment manufacturer for ADAS and autonomous driving.
- AstaZero, claimed to have world's longest indoor track for testing "active" safety systems and autonomous technologies, Sandhult, Sweden{{cite web|url=https://www.astazero.com/|title=AstaZero|publisher=Research Institutes of Sweden|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Baudette Proving Ground by Bosch, USA{{cite web|url=https://www.bosch-mobility.com/en/solutions/development-services/proving-grounds/proving-ground-baudette/|title=Baudette Proving Ground|publisher=Bosch|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Boxberg Proving Ground by Bosch, Germany{{cite web|url=https://www.bosch-mobility.com/en/solutions/development-services/proving-grounds/proving-ground-boxberg/|title=Boxberg Proving Ground|publisher=Bosch|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Bridgestone proving grounds, various locations{{cite web|url=https://www.bridgestone.com/technology_innovation/proving_ground/|title=Bridgestone Proving Ground|work=Bridgestone|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Colmis Proving Ground on land and frozen lake, Arjeplog, Sweden{{cite web|url=https://www.colmis.com/|title=Welcome to Colmis Proving Ground|publisher=Colmis|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Hwaseong Songsan proving ground, South Korea
- Automotive Testing Papenburg, Germany
- Bruntingthorpe Airfield & Proving Ground, United Kingdom
- [https://www.testregion-digitrans.at/ Digitrans] Automotive Proving Ground, St. Valentin, Austria
- Donghai Proving Ground by Bosch, China{{cite web|url=https://www.bosch-mobility.com/en/solutions/development-services/proving-grounds/proving-ground-donghai/|title=Donghai Proving Ground|publisher=Bosch|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Flat Rock Proving Ground by Bosch, USA{{cite web|url=https://www.bosch-mobility.com/en/solutions/development-services/proving-grounds/proving-ground-flat-rock/|title=Flat Rock Proving Ground|publisher=Bosch|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- HORIBA MIRA, United Kingdom
- Lang Lang Proving Ground, Australia
- GoMentum Station, United States
- Icemakers, Arjeplog, Sweden{{cite web|url=https://www.icemakers.se/|title=Icemakers|work=Icemakers|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Juvincourt Proving Ground by Bosch, France{{cite web|url=https://www.bosch-mobility.com/en/solutions/development-services/proving-grounds/proving-ground-juvincourt/|title=Juvincourt Proving Ground|publisher=Bosch|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Maxxis Proving Ground Test Track, Kunshan, China{{cite web|url=https://www.maxxis.com/se/en/technology/proving-ground-test-track/|title=Proving ground test track|publisher=Maxxis|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Memanbetsu Proving Ground by Bosch, Japan{{cite web|url=https://www.bosch-mobility.com/en/solutions/development-services/proving-grounds/|title=The Bosch proving grounds|publisher=Bosch|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Michigan Technical Resource Park, USA
- Millbrook Proving Ground, United Kingdom
- Shiobara Proving Ground by Bosch, Japan
- Sottozero Centre by Pirelli, Flurheden, Sweden{{cite press release|url=https://press.pirelli.com/pirellis-winter-proving-ground-becomes-operational-in-summer-as-well/|title=PIRELLI’S WINTER PROVING GROUND BECOMES OPERATIONAL IN SUMMER AS WELL|publisher=Pirelli|date=17 May 2022|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds, New Zealand
- Tjintokk, Slagnäs, Sweden{{cite web|url=https://tjintokk.teamtailor.com/|title=Tjintokk|work=Tjintokk|access-date=15 September 2023|language=sv}}
- Tolhuin Proving Ground by Bosch, Argentina
- TRIWO Automotive Testing Center, near Frankfurt and Saarbrücken, Germany{{cite web|last1=KFZ-Testcenter|first1=Triwo|title=Teststrecken-Kalender|url=http://www.triwo-testcenter.de|publisher=triwo-testcenter.de|access-date=17 January 2018|language=de}}
- [https://www.utac.com/ UTAC], headquartered in Linas-Montlhéry France where it operates Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry operational since 1924 the first of its eight proving grounds located in 10 countries.{{cite web|title=ABOUT UTAC|url=https://www.utac.com|access-date=3 January 2022|language=fr}}
- Vaitoudden proving ground by Bosch, Sweden{{cite web|url=https://www.bosch-mobility.com/en/solutions/development-services/proving-grounds/proving-ground-vaitoudden/|title=Winter test center Vaitoudden|publisher=Bosch|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- Yakeshi Proving Ground by Bosch, China{{cite web|url=https://www.bosch-mobility.com/en/solutions/development-services/proving-grounds/proving-ground-yakeshi/|title=Winter test center Yakeshi|publisher=Bosch|access-date=15 September 2023}}
- ZalaZone Automotive Proving Ground, Hungary