North European Aerospace Test range (NEAT) in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

is Europe's largest overland test range for aerospace systems. It is a co-operation Press releas
Swedish Defence Material Administration and SSC in major joint investment in Vidsel Test Range
2006-11-13 by the

Swedish Space Corporation The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) provides space subsystems, space and satellite operations, rocket and balloon systems including experiment equipment, launch services, aerospace engineering services as well as airborne maritime surveillance s ...

and

Swedish Defence Materiel Administration The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration ( sv, Försvarets materielverk, FMV) is a Swedish government agency that reports to the Ministry of Defence. The agency is responsible for the supply of materiel to the Swedish defence organisation. It ...

. Its aim is to provide facilities and services for safe aerospace testing in one of the few parts of Europe which has very low population and almost no air-traffic.

Physical attributes

NEAT consists of two ranges in northern

Esrange Space Center Esrange Space Center (short form Esrange) is a rocket range and research centre located about 40 kilometers east of the town of Kiruna in northern Sweden. It is a base for scientific research with high-altitude balloons, investigation of the au ...

outside

Kiruna (; se, Giron ; fi, Kiiruna ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norr ...

and Vidsel Test Range, that are combined with a bridging area in-between the two ranges.

Size

The total size of NEAT is 24,000 km², and the one-way length is 350 km.

Restricted airspace

NEAT has two permanently

restricted airspace Restricted airspace is an area of airspace typically used by the military in which the local controlling authorities have determined that air traffic must be restricted or prohibited for safety or security concerns. It is one of many types of sp ...

areas. * R01 covers

and is 6,600 km², GND/UNL altitude. * R02 covers Vidsel Test Range and is 7,200 km², GND/UNL altitude. There is also four additional restricted airspace areas over the bridging area that are only used when needed. * Over the west part, GND/3500 MSL * Over the west part, 3500 MSL/FL200A.k.a. "Tunnel in the sky" * Over the whole area, 3500 MSL/FL330 in the west part and FL200/FL330 in the east part.Overflying the town of

* Over the whole area, FL470/UNL

Suspended and restricted ground space

Restricted ground-space

* Esrange Rocket Impact Area is 5,200 km².

Suspended ground-space

* Vidsel Test Range is 3,300 km².

Notes

References

External links

NEAT home: vidsel test range
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