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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0438.PDF
FLIGHT, 13 February 1959 Missiles and Space/light. .. SAHARA TEST CENTRE By CHARLES DUCARRE •"THE Centre Interarmees d'Essais d'EnginsA Speciaux (Inter-service Test Centre for Special Weapons), CIESS in short, was officially inaugur-ated on April 24,1947. Also known as the "Centre of Guir," it serves equally the French Air Force,the Army and the Navy. The Centre includes a long firing range, claimed to afford complete safetyin all directions; a developed organization with important technical, industrial and aeronauticalfacilities; and an unspecified number of mobile bases. The location is the desert area of Colomb-Bechar, which includes the Colomb-Bechar town- ship and the Kenadza coal mines. There are fair communications. The ever-growing number of weapons to be launched hasforced the Centre to increase the number of launching sites. To the first sites, at or near Colorrib-Bechar itself, there was soonadded a facility at Hammaguir, about 60 miles south-west of the township. The new area is now undergoing full developmentand several launching sites have been completed. CIESS facilities include launching towers and ramps; shelters 213 An SE.4200 ramjet-propelled bombardment missile on its launching lorry for personnel; location and observation facilities, including cine-theodolites, radar and cameras; scrutinizing facilities for trajec- tories; recovery facilities for weapons; a transport organization,including an air fleet for reconnaissance and transport; an exten- sive wire and radio communications network; electrical powerplants and hydraulic installations; several workshops, with machine tools and the equipment necessary for constructors towork on prototype weapons; dust-removing installations; air-con- ditioning and filtering; hangars; a large road network; and an airbase having a field length of 7,550ft. February is the most favourable month: then the region issubject to real fireworks. It is possible to launch several projectiles simultaneously from Colomb-Bechar and Hammaguir. Ordin-arily, except in February, technicians need about three months to prepare a one-week firing programme. Firings are possibleobliquely up to 31 miles from Colomb-Bechar; up to 620 miles toward Tindouf, from Hammaguir; up to 1,900 miles toward thesouth-west, in the direction of Bidon V and the Chad, from Hammaguir. Vertical firings are conducted at Bou Hamma, aswell as ground-to-ground firings. Apart from the military tests, under the jurisdiction of theMinistry of National Defence, the Centre is used also for a large number of'purely scientific trials, such as observations on arti-ficially created rain and the. study of the higher atmospheric strata. Left: A cine-theodolite which permits automatic tracking of missiles. Below, left: Base II Bl, in the vicinity of the CIESS (Joint Testing Centre for Special Weapons). This range has launching facilities for CT-10 and CT-20 target missiles. Below, right: a Parca (projectile auto radio propulse contre avions) missile on its mobile launching ramp
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