Fort Irwin & the National Training Center (NTC) is a major training

Training

The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...

 area for the United States Military and is a census-designated place

Census-designated place

A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

 located in the Mojave Desert

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

 in northern San Bernardino County

San Bernardino County, California

San Bernardino County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,035,210, up from 1,709,434 as of the 2000 census...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Fort Irwin sits at an elevation of 2454 feet (748 m). The 2010 United States census reported Fort Irwin's population was 8,845.

The base is part of the Installation Management Command (IMCOM). The opposing force

Opposing force

An opposing force or enemy force is a military unit tasked with representing an enemy, usually for training purposes in war game scenarios...

 at the NTC is the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the Blackhorse Cavalry, who are stationed at the base to provide an enemy force to units on a training rotation at Fort Irwin.

Fort Irwin works within the R-2508 Special Use Airspace Complex

R-2508 Special Use Airspace Complex

The R-2508 Complex includes all the airspace and associated land presently used and managed by the three principal military activities in the Upper Mojave Desert region:*Air Force Flight Test Center , Edwards Air Force Base...

.
The Fort Irwin area has a history dating back almost 15,000 years, when Native Americans of the Lake Mojave Period were believed to live in the area.