---
title: "Watch The Navy Blow Up Pretty Much Everything On Its China Lake Weapons Range"
description: "If you like things that go boom, this place is heaven."
date: "2017-07-25"
modified: "2019-02-08"
authors:
  - name: "Tyler Rogoway"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.twz.com/authors/tyler-rogoway"
url: "https://www.twz.com/12845/watch-the-navy-blow-up-pretty-much-everything-on-its-china-lake-weapons-range"
categories:
  - "Americas"
  - "Around The Globe"
  - "Explosives/EOD"
  - "Land"
  - "Navies"
  - "News & Features"
  - "Sea"
  - "U.S. Homeland"
  - "U.S. Navy"
tags:
  - "bombs"
  - "explosions"
  - "highlight reel"
  - "Live Fire"
  - "Missiles"
  - "Munitions"
  - "NAWS China Lake"
  - "Range"
  - "Tests"
---

# Watch The Navy Blow Up Pretty Much Everything On Its China Lake Weapons Range

![](<https://www.twz.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-twz/content/2017/07/kahdah5261.jpg>)
*www.twz.com*

​​​​Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, located in the [western reaches of](<https://www.twz.com/6041/f-35-caught-blasting-through-californias-star-wars-canyon>) California's Mojave Desert, is a wondrous place when it comes to military aviation and pretty much everything associated with it—and it still holds some secrets. From [massive, sound-stage like](<https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/why-the-u-s-built-a-giant-sound-stage-in-the-californi-1550672114>) missile seeker testing facilities, to rocket sleds, to [electronic warfare ranges](<https://www.twz.com/3865/this-is-likely-why-the-navy-is-causing-a-massive-and-mysterious-gps-outage-in-the-western-us>) and a runway dedicated to [unmanned aircraft operations](<https://www.twz.com/6866/60-minutes-does-an-infomercial-on-drone-swarms-for-the-pentagon>), NAWS China Lake offers militaries and their associated industry partners from around the world a huge menu of testing capabilities. But above all else, NAWS China Lake's expansive and diverse set of live-fire ranges are truly a national treasure.

It is on these ranges that the latest and greatest weapons and sensors have been tested over the better part of a century. From the advent of Sidewinder air-to-air missile in the 1950s, to the dawn of GPS guided weaponry decades later, the live-fire ranges have provided a diverse array of target types and recording capabilities to fine tune even the most outlandish tactical weaponry.

Every year these facilities bustle with activity, and much of that action is loud and explosive in nature. NAVAIR isn't shy about touting their loud and exothermic accomplishments, hence this awesome 2016 highlight real put together to show off just a tiny bit of what China Lake weapons testers were up to last year.

https://youtube.com/embed/\_dN1SeHA15E

The video shows all types of weapons being tested, including [AGM-88 HARM](<https://www.twz.com/10314/the-time-a-f-4g-wild-weasels-anti-radiation-missile-blew-apart-a-b-52s-tail>)s, [SeaRAM fired RIM-116s](<https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-seven-deadliest-naval-close-in-weapon-systems-1568291678>), [laser guided rockets](<https://www.twz.com/3519/those-old-ov-10-broncos-sent-to-fight-isis-were-laser-rocket-slinging-manhunters>), [Tomahawk cruise missiles](<https://www.twz.com/9089/americas-tomahawk-missile-attack-on-syrias-shayrat-air-base-was-a-sham>), GBU-31 JDAM, and various other munitions.

Truly explosive stuff!

*Hat tip to our friend James Goodall for sending over the video. James* [*has a new book*](<https://www.amazon.com/Navys-Fast-Attack-Submarines-Vol-1/dp/0764353233/ref=as_li_ss_tl?tag=brooklinextwz-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&linkId=de911ff929147e087b23d2989cf6756f&language=en_US>) *out on Los Angeles class fast attack subs and it looks killer, make sure to check it out.*

*Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com*

## Author
Tyler’s passion is the study of military technology, strategy, as well as foreign policy, and he has fostered a dominant voice on those topics in the defense and national security space. Tyler was the creator of the hugely popular defense site *Foxtrot Alpha* before developing *TWZ*, which he continues to lead as the Editor-In-Chief to this day.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/Aviation_Intel>)