Drachenbronn Air Base (''Base Aérienne 901 Drachenbronn'') of the
French Air and Space Force
The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Ar ...
is located in the community of
Drachenbronn-Birlenbach in the
Bas-Rhin département
Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...
. It houses the ''
Centre de détection et de contrôle 05/901.''
The base uses the underground facilities of the former
Ouvrage Hochwald of the
Maginot Line. Its mission is the surveillance of aviation movements in eastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. Under budget cuts announced in October 2014 it will become an outstation of
Nancy – Ochey Air Base
Nancy-Ochey Air Base (french: Base aérienne 133 Nancy-Ochey) is a front-line French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) base located approximately 11 km west-southwest of Neuves-Maisons in the Département de Meurthe-et- ...
.
History
In 1946 the Air Force began studies for the creation of a
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
station on top of the ''ouvrage''. Construction began in 1952, and in 1955 major construction was undertaken in the ''ouvrage'' for a radar control room and operations center, which was placed in operation in 1957, originally designated ''Station Maître Radar 50/921''.
The facility was briefly called ''Ouvrage H'' and was connected by data links to ''Ouvrage G'' at the
Fort du Salbert near
Belfort
Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Terri ...
and ''Ouvrage F'' at
Fort François de Guis
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical ...
at
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...
.
In 1960 the facility was renamed ''Base Aérienne 901''. In 1991 the base was named for Commandant de Laubier, a hero of the defense of
Sedan in 1940.
The operations center was again renovated in 1964 to accommodate the VISU/STRIDA II system, and again in 1984 for the VISU/STRIDA IV system.
It was yet again renovated in 2007 with a new operations room.
A three-dimensional radar was installed on the nearby
Hochwald hill, which dominates the
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
plain and the
Rhine valley
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, source ...
.
See also
*
Maginot line
*
French air defence radar systems
References
External links
Base Aérienne 901official site.
* Website dedicated t
Commandant de Laubier namesake of the base.
{{authority control
French Air and Space Force bases
Bunkers in France