Center interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux

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Badge of the CIEES
Center interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux (Algeria)
Colomb-Béchar
Colomb-Béchar
Hammaguir
Hammaguir
Reggane
Reggane
Starting places of the CIEES

The Center interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux (CIEES) was the name for three French launch sites for suborbital and orbital missiles in Algeria . They were near Colomb-Béchar , in Hammaguir, and near Reggane .

history

On June 12, 1945, shortly after the end of the Second World War, the French War Ministry took responsibility for the development of self-propelled projectiles. The armaments authority Direction des Études et Fabrications d'armement (DEFA) proposed on August 13, 1945 to set up a test facility to test replicas of the German V2 and own rocket developments. The choice fell on Colomb-Béchar in then French Algeria. The transport links with an airfield and a railway connection to the coast (the Mediterranean-Niger Railway ) were favorable, and the clear air also enabled optimal optical tracking of the missiles.

Thus, on 24 April 1947 at 31.6928 °  N , 2.2546 °  W , the Center d'essais d'engins spéciaux (CEES) for the French army established. When the Luftwaffe took part in the spring of 1948 , the name was changed to Center interarmées d'essais d'engins spéciaux . The name Georges Léger was also used, after an engineer who died on the site.

Two launch facilities were created: the first block B0 for guided missiles , the second block B1 from December 1949 for larger rockets. From there, on May 20, 1952, the Veronique , France's first liquid rocket , launched.

However, these two launch facilities were insufficient for larger missiles due to the terrain and the proximity of the city of Colomb-Béchar and the Moroccan border. In 1952 it was decided to build a facility B2 about 120 southwest of the previous launch sites at 30.871 °  N , 3.008 °  W , which was given the name Hammaguir , an abbreviation of the actual name Hammada du Guir .

From 1952 four launch facilities were built here: Bacchus for solid rockets, Blandine for liquid fuel rockets, Béatrice for the anti-aircraft missile Hawk and the Cora tests for the planned Europa rocket and Brigitte for test launches of rockets from the Edelstein series. The first French satellite Astérix was launched from Brigitte . 800 scientists and technicians and 3,000 other people worked in Hammaguir during satellite launches.

Between 1961 and 1965 some missile launches were also on the Plateau Reggane at 26.7189 °  N , 0.2769 °  O performed, the km further to the east was the 550th

According to the Évian treaties signed between France and Algeria in March 1962, France could use the facilities in independent Algeria for another five years. After the last launch took place on April 4, 1967, France cleared the launch sites and test facilities on July 1, 1967. Military tests were relocated to Biscarrosse , and civilian rocket launches to the Center Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana .

Overview of the starting places

Surname Area Missile types First start Last start number Maximum altitude (km)
Colomb Bechar B0 Veronique N / NA , Centaure , Dragon 1 May 20, 1952 Nov 20, 1965 18th 404
Colomb Bechar B1 Monica Feb 25, 1955 Jan. 17, 1956 5 40
Blandine B2 Veronique , Vesta 07th Mar 1959 0Apr 4, 1967 61 366
Bacchus B2 Aigle , Belier I , Centaure , Agate , Dragon 1 , Topaze , Rubis Dec 17, 1960 28 Mar 1967 108 2035
Brigitte B2 Aigle , Agate , Emeraude , Saphir , SSBS S1 , Diamond A , MSBS M112 05th Mar 1963 Feb. 15, 1967 32 orbit
Beatrice B2 Cora Nov 27, 1966 Dec 18, 1966 2 55
Reggane - Centaure , Veronique AGI 0Dec 6, 1961 June 24, 1965 12 150

Track tracking facilities

Various instruments were available for optical and electromagnetic path tracking:

  • High speed cameras with focal lengths of up to 2 m
  • Optical telescopes of the Igor type with a focal length of 12.5 m
  • Two antenna fields AME (Angle Measuring Equipment) with two 150 m long antenna rows each to determine the direction to the missile. The range was up to 2000 km.
  • The Aquitaine radar was initially in B2, later on a hill behind B1 and was also used to track take-offs from B2. It had a range of 3000 km and a resolution of 10 m in distance and 0.1 mrad in angle.
  • The telemetry station in Hammaguir used a parabolic antenna called Cyclope, 27 m high and 35 t mass.

Individual evidence

  1. Jacques Tiziou: Le Center d'Essais Interarmées d'Engins Spéciaux (CIEES). In: Nos premières années dans l'espace. Retrieved on July 19, 2017 (French): "L'un de ces premiers essais coûta la vie à l'ingénieur Georges LEGER qui donna son nom à la base."

Web links