White Sands Missile Range activates new training center

Michael McDevitt, Las Cruces Sun-News
·1 min read
Brig. Gen. Eric Little speaks to gatherers at White Sands Missile Range during the Change of Command Ceremony in which he took over as WSMR commander Thursday, May 20, 2021.
Brig. Gen. Eric Little speaks to gatherers at White Sands Missile Range during the Change of Command Ceremony in which he took over as WSMR commander Thursday, May 20, 2021.

LAS CRUCES - White Sands Missile Range has formally activated a new training center for special forces.

Two months ago, WSMR held an activation ceremony for the base's Special Operations Forces Training and Experimentation Center, or SOF-TEC, as a tenant directorate under the operational control of 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne).

According to WSMR public affairs, the SOF-TEC program at White Sands "allows U.S. SOF units and their partner forces to conduct training and certification on irregular warfare activities in an environment that replicates the modern-day battlefield."

"We can do things here at White Sands Missile Range for our nation that can be done nowhere else on Earth," WSMR Commander Brigadier General Eric Little said March 8.

Little said WSMR's large amount of land area and control of the airspace above the base "from the surface of the earth all the way up to space … are just a few of the attributes that uniquely qualify WSMR as the premier range to support SOF-TEC's mission set."

Deputy Commanding General – Support 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) Brig. Gen. Derek Lipson speaks during the activation ceremony for the Special Operations Forces Training and Experimentation Center at White Sands Missile Range on March 8, 2022.
Deputy Commanding General – Support 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) Brig. Gen. Derek Lipson speaks during the activation ceremony for the Special Operations Forces Training and Experimentation Center at White Sands Missile Range on March 8, 2022.

Deputy Commanding General – Support 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) Brig. Gen. Derek Lipson said at the ceremony WSMR is an excellent choice for the SOF-TEC.

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"Approximately 2 million acres of training land allows our Special Operations units to practice dispersed mission command in realistic, unforgiving terrain," Lipson said. "White Sands Missile Range provides the opportunity to operate from below-ground to outer space and includes state of the art cyber training facilities and allows us to replicate complex and multi-domain conditions in the real world for our soldiers to operate in today."

Michael McDevitt is a city and county government reporter for the Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-202-3205, mmcdevitt@lcsun-news.com or @MikeMcDTweets on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: White Sands Missile Range activates new training center