NATO Weapon Ranges

[Burner]

I'm interested in NATO's Weapons Ranges (meaning Live Firing Ranges) in any member country. Personally I have little knowledge of such ranges and would like to know more. Because of my curiosity I have tried several times to find any sort of information on this kind of facilities, but with very few exceptions (e.g. Cold Lake Air Weapons Range and others) have failed to find any solid info. Maybe you can help me by posting here some info on WRs in your country (given your country is a NATO member). I'll try and find out more on Romanian WRs, as I'm form Romania. The purpouse is making a sort of database regarding these facilities.

 

[TrangleC]

The range of a weapon can vary quite a bit, depending on the conditions.
The same artillery round fired from a howrizer somewhere up in the mountains of Kashmere most likely will fly further than when it's fired 100 meters above sea level, because of the lesser air density.
Or when a aircraft fires a missile, the speed and altitude of the aircraft determines the range too.
Of course there are official numbers for every weapon, but they only apply to the conditions the manufacturer considered the standard.

 

[Waylander]

And mostly are not correct.
You don't want your enemy to know the real range of your weapons just by looking into the I-net.
Because of this they often say "more than...km/miles"

 

[Grand Danois]

What you're are looking for is live firing ranges, areas where you can practice live firing of weapons. Right?

 

[Burner]

Right. I was talking about Weapon Ranges as in live firing ranges, as Grand Danois said. I even said I've found some info on Cold Lake Air Weapons Range. Sorry if I was ambigous.

 

[Grand Danois]

The biggest one in Western Europe is Vidsel. Not formally a NATO test range, but effectively it is. It was easiest to snatch a bit of text from Wiki.

Vidsel is a village in Älvsbyn Municipality, Norrbotten County, about 900km north of Stockholm, Sweden, in the Arctic Circle; 619 inhabitants (2000). Perhaps its earliest history is as a seasonal settlement, but permanent inhabitants have lived here since the 19th century. The town was mainly founded in the 1950s, because of "Robotförsökplats Norr" (RFN) (Missile Test Area North). The range forms part of the Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) Testing Directorate, which is responsible for the verification of systems procured for the Swedish Armed Forces. RFN is the largest overland test range in Western Europe, consisting of 1,650 km² of uninhabited forest and marshland, which can be extended by 1,500 km² if required. The installation includes a military base with a 2,300 m runway. Because of its usage as a Swedish and European missile test site, this remote area is often listed in international weather forecasts and maps.

The site has been a test area for most Swedish flight developments, including Draken, Viggen and Gripen. New tests with EADS Phoenix and Eurofighter, as well as European military trainings, are planned for the future.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidsel

The main firing range in Denmark must be Oksbøl, where both army and air force do live fire exercises.

 

[Burner]

Some limited information on Romanian Weapons Ranges:
Cincu Range lyes 25 km East of Făgăraş municipality and stretches on the teritory of Braşov and Sibiu counties. It has an area of 104 sq. km and 100 km of natural roads at an elevation varying from 400 to 700 m. Cincu is used for tactial exercises and live firing by the army, air force and for weapon testing by the local armament industry.

Malina (Smârdan) Range situated it the Galaţi county, near the city of Galaţi has an area of 85 sq. km and can acommodate 600 military personnel. It is used for training, exercises and live firing by the army (IFVs, tanks, artillery), for chemical weapons training and as an air weapons range by the air force. RoAF's helos, MiG-21 Lancers, IAR-99s, Il-28s recentlly used the range for training and testing purposes.

Babadag Range is located in Tulcea county. It has 27 sq. km and can acommodate 250 personnel. It is used by the army and air force for various purpouses.

I know there's also a range North of Constanţa, near Mihail Kogălniceanu AB. It is called Capul Midia. However, info about these ranges is very hard to find.

Is there a big range in Italy, on the island of Sicilly?

 

[turin]

In Germany there would be Grafenwoehr, Bavaria. One of the biggest firing ranges in Europe. It covers an area of approx. 230 km² (according to Wikipedia). Its used by various NATO forces, mainly US and german Bundeswehr though. Have been there myself once during my service time.

Check out their english website here:
http://www.grafenwoehr.com/(pnwgz5qe5pnesh55mez2d0q0)/index.aspx

 

[TrangleC]

He he, sorry. I misunderstood the thread.

 

[Burner]

TRAINING CAMP AND SURFACE TO AIR FIRING RANGE
"Gl. bg. Ion BUNGESCU" - CAPUL MIDIA

Training Camp and Surface to Air Firing Range "Gl. Bg. Ion Bungescu"- Capul Midia (TIPTSA) represents the Air Force structure specialized in providing the necessary facilities for firings training, execution and evaluation.
[...]
Missions
� Provide integrated range-specific services for training, execution and evaluation of training, testing and certifying firings such as: surface-to-air, air-to-air, ground-to-ground, ground-to-sea and ship-to-ship
�Provide the logistic support for the firings performed within the range

Geographical position and access
� Located in Constantza County, on the Black Sea shore, 20 km north from the county capital, Constantza, north from Capul Midia

Access
- by air: Mihail Kogalniceanu International Airport, 25 km west
- by sea: Midia Harbor, 8 km south
- by railroad: Midia Railway Station, 5 km west
- by road: Constantza-Tulcea route, 5 km from Corbu Village (concrete road)

Available facilities

1. For carrying out firings
� firing positions (for up to 50 km surface-to-air missiles, antiaircraft artillery and machine guns against off-shore and mobile ground targets; for infantry weapons and grenades)
� platforms for testing and ordnance disposal
� areas for company tactical exercises as well as for air dropping and troops landing
�virtual training and evaluation system provided with a moving target simulator - MTS II, made by AAI Corporation

� target system for training and assessment firings:
- RT-11D rocket-target for surface-to-air firings
- air-pulled wheels for antiaircraft artillery firings
- unmanned remote-controlled aircraft (ATT-01, ATM-03) or soft-assisted (FOX-TS1);
- air- and ground launched luminous parachutes (TPDM-1, 85 mm, 120 mm);
- airplane (helicopter) for fire practice or dephased firings
- mobile tanc mock-ups and fixed ground targets for artillery fire

� firing assessment systems:
- trajectory measurement system EOTS-F
- projectile measurement and counting system AS-100, BT-23;
- equipment on the firing devices

2. Logistic Support
- maintenance and repair workshops, personnel, cargo and special products transportation equipment, engineer equipment, warehouses, fire-fighting unit, accommodation and mess, offices, communications including internet connection, a minihotel with 66 rooms, 20 rooms in villas, dormitories for 800 people, 40 beds each

Activities carried out:
- acceptance tests of 2x35mm Oerlikon and Gepard antiaircraft system
- tests according to antihail missile program
- firings performed by antiaircraft units from Hungary(1963, 1964), Moldavia (1998) and France (2003)
- multinational exercise "Corner Stone 2003".

SOURCE:http://www.roaf.ro/en/unitati/capu_midia_en.htm

The total area of the range is not specified, though.

 

[Big-E]

Do they even have designated NATO ranges? I thought any range within NATO countries that allow member countries access to is technically a NATO range?

 

[Waylander]

In the north of Germany (State of Niedersachsen) we have two big training areas.
The first is Bergen which is the biggest of Germany and also the biggest training area and life firing range for ground troops in europe with ca. 284km².
Every possible calibre can be fired there.
Besides many german units which train there it is also home of the British Army of the Rhine. Many troops form the Britain and the netherlands train there and nearly every NATO country was there for some time.

There is also the area around Munster. Munster is the biggest location of the Bundeswehr and there are 5 bases around the town one of them is our school for tanks and mechanized infantry. The town itself is surrounded by the training areas Munster Nord and Munster Süd. While Munster Süd is mainly a artillery training area, Munster Nord is used by every kind of army units. It is also home of our regional training center (north) for mechanized formations.
It is ca. 108km² big.
Interesting is that some parts of it are still closed due to experiments of chemical weapons during WWII.

Together with Grafenwöhr, these two should be the main live firing ranges and training areas in Germany.
There are many other training areas here like for example Putlos were you fire your 15mm artillery and MLRS rockets direct into the baltic sea.
But due to our high population and urbanization there are no big live fire training areas for our air force or naval units.

 

[Gladius]

Er non Waylander...

The largest training area for land forces in Europe, if I remember corectly is the CENAD* San Gregorio (Zaragoza), with it's 339 Km². San Gregorio is the main training zone for NATO land forces in Spanish territory. Each year many national and international exercises as the Strong Resolve 98, Dynamic Mix 02, Hirex 03, Hirex 04, Cohesion 05, Allied Action 05, etc... are carried out in the CENAD San Gregorio. Additionally the CENAD-1 harbors the OPFOR of the Spanish Army.

Also in Spain we have another four important training zones with live firing ranges:

The CENAD Chinchilla (Albacete), used by the Spanish Army and in some times by NATO Allies, have and area for exercises of 136 Km².

The artillery firing range of Teleno, situated at 20 km of Astorga (León), have an delimited area for live fire of 62 Km² and is used mainly by the Spanish Army artillery units, helicópters of the FAMET (Airmobile Forces of the Army) and the Marine Infantry artillery units.

The Spanish Air Force firing range of Bardenas Reales (Navarra), with 22,4 Km². Is exclusively dedicated to air launched weaponry. The Spanish Armed Forces and USAF have been its main users.

The Spanish Navy and Marine Infantry training camp, of El Retin situated among Zahara de los Atunes and Barbate (Cádiz), with 54 Km². Used by their open to sea situation for amphibious training and combined operations by the Navy and Marine Infantry.


*Centro Nacional de Adiestramiento/National Training Center.

 

[Gladius]

Sorry, repeated post.

 

[Waylander]

Aaah, ok.
I apologize for that. That was just what they told me about Bergen.

 

[Stimpy75]

In Turkey it´s the Konya Weapon range used by the air force to commit air-air and air-ground missions,including the usage of ACMI-Pods and "enemy" SAM system for example like SA-8 and SA-15 illuminators. The area is used to conduct The Anatolian Eagle exercise,which is held yearly.Participants include NATO members like France,USA,Italy,Belgium but also countries like Pakistan,Jordan and Israel.