US Army Designates Camp Grayling as Drone Test Range, Boosting Northern Michigan's Defense Tech Ambitions

The U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command designated Camp Grayling in northern Michigan as one of five new drone and counter-drone test ranges, the only Midwest site on U.S. soil.

Original report
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Industry impact

The designation extends military drone-testing infrastructure into the Midwest, potentially drawing defense-tech, aerospace and robotics companies to a region without prior federal test-range access.

The U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) has designated Camp Grayling in northern Michigan as one of five new test ranges opened to private companies for testing drones, counter-drone technologies, long-range fires, and low-cost interceptors. The other four sites are Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Mississippi, and the Africa Multidomain Training and Experimentation Center in Morocco, making Camp Grayling the only Midwest site among those on U.S. soil.

Located about 50 miles from Traverse City, Camp Grayling offers restricted airspace up to 23,000 feet, 200,000 acres of varied terrain, and a four-season weather environment, and companies can now reserve time there to test systems ranging from drone-on-drone projectile technology to cameras and radar instrumentation. Traverse Connect President and CEO Warren Call credited the Northsky Consortium, co-led by Traverse Connect, Northwestern Michigan College, and 20Fathoms, along with the Michigan National Guard, the Michigan Drone Association, U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, and elected officials, with securing the designation over several months of outreach to ATEC.

20Fathoms Executive Director Stacey Feeley said access to a premier U.S. Army test range makes the region an attractive destination for defense tech, aerospace, and robotics founders nationwide. NMC flight instructor Scott Dennis said the designation could expand the college's UAS program if federal authorities approve a proposed Beyond Visual Line of Sight flight corridor linking Camp Grayling to Traverse City and Alpena. Separately, U.S. Senators Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, U.S. Representative Jack Bergman, and four other Michigan congressional representatives sent a letter in late July 2026 to the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard urging that Air Station Traverse City be designated the Coast Guard's premier site for testing autonomous maritime technologies.