Description: Five military installations—the PNSY, NS Newport, NSB New London, NWS Earl, and JB MDL—are located on land adjacent to the offshore Northeast Range Complexes. These installations may use the waters and air space of the range complexes for training or testing activities as well as other nearby range complexes such as VACAPES. The offshore Northeast Range Complexes are also used for training and testing activities by visiting installations other than these five Northeast installations.
Description: A range complex is a designated set of specifically bounded geographic areas and encompasses a water component (above and below the surface), airspace, and may encompass a land component where training and testing of military platforms, tactics, munitions, explosives, and electronic warfare systems occur. Range complexes include established OPAREAs and special use airspace (SUA), which may be further divided to provide better control of the area and events being conducted for safety reasons. The Boston, Narragansett, Atlantic City, and VACAPES range complexes are located along the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern seaboard of the United States, of which the former three collectively called the Northeast Range Complex. These areas are the principal locations for portions of the United States Navy’s major training and testing events and infrastructure, and span 761 miles along the coast from Maine to New Jersey. The Northeast Range Complex includes special use airspace with associated warning areas and surface and subsurface sea space of the Boston, Narragansett Bay, and Atlantic City OPAREAs.
</p><ul><li><strong> Offshore Boston Range Complex</strong>: this range complex primarily consists of surface sea space and subsurface space and includes SUA and danger zones. Situated near Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY), the it is located off the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. As part of the range complex, the Boston OPAREA extends from the shoreline seaward, encompassing an area from Cape Cod Bay and extending out into Massachusetts Bay and the Gulf of Maine. The subsurface space includes two submarine transit lanes used for the safe passage of submarines through the OPAREA. </li><li><strong> Offshore Narragansett Bay Complex</strong>: this range complex primarily consists of surface sea space and subsurface space. The offshore component of the range complex is located off the coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. It is south of New London, CT, and Newport, RI, which both contain primary Navy installations. It consists of SUA, danger zones, and restricted areas. The Narragansett Bay OPAREA extends from the shoreline seaward, and is configured so as to avoid the heavy vessel traffic in and around the New York metropolitan area. </li><li><strong> Offshore Atlantic City Range Complex</strong>: located off the coast of New Jersey, the offshore component of the Atlantic City Range Complex consists of surface sea space and subsurface space and associated special use airspace. The offshore Atlantic City Range Complex additionally supports training and testing by other services, primarily USAF units from nearby bases.</li></ul><p>
Description: The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport (NUWCDIVNPT) Testing Range consists of waters within Narragansett Bay, nearshore waters of Rhode Island Sound, Block Island Sound, and coastal waters of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The Testing Range located near NUWCDIVNPT is an area used for research, development, test, and evaluation of Undersea Warfare systems, and, as necessary, to support other Navy and DoD operations. The NUWCDIVNPT testing range focuses on the undersea aspects of warfare and is therefore structured to test systems such as torpedoes and unmanned underwater vehicles, and contains several sea space restricted areas.
Description: An OPAREA is an ocean area defined by geographic coordinates with defined sea surface and subsurface training areas and associated special use airspace, and includes danger zones and restricted areas. The Northeast Range Complexes include three OPAREAs – Boston, Narragansett Bay, and Atlantic City, which are located offshore of the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. These include OPAREAs consisting of surface and subsurface waters, special use airspace, land ranges and stationary land targets, mobile targets and target control facilities, and instrumentation facilities.
Description: Special use airspace is a designated airspace of defined dimensions where activities must be confined because of their nature or where limitations may be imposed upon aircraft operations that are not part of those activities. Warning areas are one type of special use airspace commonly found in range complexes. A warning area is an area of defined dimensions which serves to warn non-participating aircraft of potential danger in a particular area.
Description: Countermeasure and torpedo (non-explosive) testing may occur within several areas located east of Cape Cod within and adjacent to the Boston OPAREA. During training in these areas, submarine, surface, and aircraft crews search, track, and detect submarines at depths ranging from 30 to 150 m.