The United States Extremely Large Telescope Program science and concept of operations

The US Extremely Large Telescope Program (US-ELTP) is a joint initiative of the organizations building the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), and the NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab). The US-ELTP will enable all U.S. astronomers to carry out transformational research that fully leverages the diverse capabilities of both the GMT and TMT, as well as the two-hemisphere system. In this paper, we present an overview of the program's scientific goals, the high-level roles and responsibilities of the US-ELTP partners, and the operating modalities of the joint program, including science and engineering operations for science investigators and archival research support.