The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
and
civil
Civil may refer to:
*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
facility and operation located in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, approximately north-west of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. The WRC is operated by the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF), a division of the
Australian Defence Force
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...
(ADF). The complex has a
land area
This is a list of the world's countries and their dependent territories by land, water and total area, ranked by total area.
Entries in this list include, but are not limited to, those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which includes sovereign ...
of or roughly the size of
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
or
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The
airspace
Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the ...
above the area is restricted and controlled by the RAAF for safety and security. The WRC is a highly specialised ADF test and evaluation capability operated by the RAAF for the purposes of testing defence materiel.
The complex has been variously known as the Anglo-Australian Long Range Weapons Establishment and then the Woomera Rocket Range;
the RAAF Woomera Test Range and in 2013, the facility was reorganised and renamed to the RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC).
The ground area of the WRC is defined by the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) and includes the Nurrungar Test Area (NTA); with a land area of , the WPA is described by the RAAF as the largest land-based test range in the western world.
[ The Woomera Prohibited Area Coordination Office (WPACO) coordinates daily operation of the complex which comprises a mix of South Australian ]crown land
Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...
and is covered by pastoral lease
A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands.
Australia
Pastoral lease ...
s and mining tenements granted by the Government of South Australia
The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...
. The Woomera Prohibited Area Advisory Board monitors the operations of the WPA and the WPACO. The airspace above the WPA is called the Woomera Restricted Airspace (WRX) and is controlled by the RAAF for safety and security reasons during the conduct of some activities on the complex together with the support of Airservices Australia
Airservices Australia is an Australian Government owned corporation, responsible for providing safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible services to the aviation industry within the Australian Flight Information Region (FIR). S ...
.
The complex also contains the RAAF Base Woomera
RAAF Base Woomera (WMA), was proclaimed by Chief of Air Force Directive in January 2015. RAAF Base Woomera and the RAAF Woomera Test Range (WTR) are the two formations which make up the RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC). RAAF Base Woomera consi ...
, or the ''RAAF Woomera Airfield'', the dual-runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...
military airfield
An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...
located north
Aeronautical Chart
of the settlement of the Woomera Village. The airfield has been in military operation since an RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Dakota
Dakota may refer to:
* Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux
** Dakota language, their language
Dakota may also refer to:
Places United States
* Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Dakota, Illinois, a town
* Dakota, Minnesota, ...
landed at Woomera on 19 June 1947.
Etymology and broad definitions
The word ''woomera'' is an Australian Aboriginal
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
word of the Dharug language
The Dharug language, also spelt Darug, Dharuk, and other variants, and also known as the Sydney language, Gadigal language ( Sydney city area), is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Yuin–Kuric group that was traditionally spoken in th ...
of the Eora
The Eora (''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as the Sy ...
people of the Sydney basin; a woomera is a wooden spear-throwing device. ''Woomera'' was adopted initially as an appropriate name for the settlement of , that is also called Woomera Village, based on a recommendation from Group Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...
Alfred George Pither
Air Commodore Alfred George Pither, (16 October 1908 – 2 July 1971) was a Royal Australian Air Force officer. During the Second World War he established a chain of long-range radar stations throughout Australia and the South West Pacific. Aft ...
.[
Since its establishment in 1947 and its renaming in 2016 as the RAAF Woomera Range Complex, the defence facilities have been variously known as the Anglo-Australian Long Range Weapons Establishment and then the Woomera Rocket Range between 1947 and 1980 when it was operated by the ]Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
as a Defence research and long range weapons testing range.[ Since 1980 the complex has had various other titles and in more recent years, the RAAF facility has mainly been known as the RAAF Woomera Test Range. In 2013, and as part of the ongoing redevelopment and remediation of Woomera into its 'next-generation' configuration in readiness to support the ADF's 'Force2030' plan, the range facility was reorganised and renamed to the RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC).][
The ground area of the WRC is defined by the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) and includes the Nurrungar Test Area (NTA). The WPA covers an area of ] and is described by the RAAF as the largest land-based test range in the western world.[ The WPA is highly prospective and the ]Government of South Australia
The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...
and Geoscience Australia
Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowl ...
have assessed that by 2025 about 35 billion
Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions:
*1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English.
* 1,000,000,000,000, i.e ...
worth of iron ore, gold and other mineral resources are potentially exploitable from within the WPA. Access to the WPA for non-Defence use requires Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
approval and is on the proviso that Defence activities will not be unduly compromised.[ The ground area of the WPA is bound generally by Woomera in the south-east, ]Roxby Downs Roxby Downs may refer to.
* Roxby Downs, South Australia, a town and a locality
* Roxby Council, formerly Municipal Council of Roxby Downs, a local government area
See also
*Roxby Downs Station
Roxby Downs Station was a pastoral lease in centra ...
and the village associated with the Olympic Dam mine
The Olympic Dam mine is a large poly-metallic underground mine located in South Australia, NNW of Adelaide. It is the fourth largest copper deposit and the largest known single deposit of uranium in the world. Copper is the largest contributor ...
in the east, in the north-east, and further north to the 28th parallel, Maralinga
Maralinga, in the remote western areas of South Australia, was the site, measuring about in area, of British nuclear tests in the mid-1950s.
In January 1985 native title was granted to the Maralinga Tjarutja, a southern Pitjantjatjara Aborigi ...
in the south-west, and the Trans-Australian Railway
The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the easter ...
and Tarcoola in the south. The WPA is divided into green, amber and red zones; representing infrequent, periodic, and frequent Defence use, respectively. Easement
An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a propert ...
s through the WPA allows public transit on the Tarcoola-Alice Springs railway, Stuart Highway
Stuart Highway is a major Australia, Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; a distance of . Its northern and sou ...
, Lake Cadibarrawirracanna
Lake Cadibarrawirracanna, informally known as Lake Cadi, is a salt lake located in the Australian state of South Australia in the locality of Anna Creek in the state's Far North region about north-west of the state capital of Adelaide.
A Sou ...
Road, Olympic Dam Highway
Olympic Dam Highway is a sealed, long, outback highway in South Australia that runs from Stuart Highway in Pimba
Pimba is a Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portug ...
(B97), William Creek Road, as well as the Woomera Village. Permits are required to use the Anne Beadell Highway
Anne Beadell Highway is an outback unsealed track linking Coober Pedy, South Australia, and Laverton, Western Australia, a total distance of . The track was surveyed and built by Len Beadell, Australian surveyor, who named it after his wife. Th ...
. From time to time, and for safety reasons, Defence is able to close access for short periods along these easements during the conduct of tests carried out on the complex. The Woomera Prohibited Area Coordination Office (WPACO) coordinates daily operation of the complex which comprises a mix of South Australian crown land
Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...
and is covered by pastoral lease
A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands.
Australia
Pastoral lease ...
s and mining tenements granted by the Government of South Australia. The Woomera Prohibited Area Advisory Board monitors the operations of the WPA and the WPACO and recommends amendments to co-existence policies and procedures; develop high-level relationships between Defence and the resources sector; resolve disputes between Defence and non-Defence users; report annually on the balance of interests in the WPA; and conduct a review every seven years of the balance of interests in the WPA. Its members comprise appointments from the Australian and South Australian governments.
The airspace above the WPA is an integral part of the WRC. Entry into Woomera Restricted Airspace (WRX) is controlled by the RAAF for safety and security reasons during the conduct of some activities on the complex. Airservices Australia
Airservices Australia is an Australian Government owned corporation, responsible for providing safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible services to the aviation industry within the Australian Flight Information Region (FIR). S ...
defines the exact limits of restricted airspace in their annual handbook. When required, the RAAF issues a 'Notice to Airmen' (NOTAM) which effectively 'closes' access to any part of the WRX when safety or security needs require such action during the conduct of Defence activities at the complex.
History
The groundspace of the complex is known as the Woomera Prohibited Area and measures . It was first declared a prohibited area in 1947.
Military use
Anglo-Australian
Germany's use of V-1 flying bombs
The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug and in Germany as ...
and V-2 rocket
The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed ...
s during World War II prompted the British to establish their own rocket testing programme. However, the density of population in the United Kingdom made testing risky, so the British turned to Australia, asking for a site with a long testing corridor containing minimal population. The two nations joined in the Anglo-Australian Joint Project
English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians, are Australians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (wheth ...
, a Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
weapons design and test program established in 1946.[ In April 1946 a mission from the United Kingdom led by Lieutenant-General JF Evetts CB CBE MC flew to Mt Eba homestead to carry out the first investigation for the suitability of the area for a guided missile range. His survey and mapping advisor was Colonel Lawrence Fitzgerald OBE Director of Military Survey Army Headquarters. There was little in the way of adequate surveys and maps of the area and in September 1946, soon after the project was approved by the Government, a survey and mapping reconnaissance of the area from Pimba north to the Musgrave Ranges was conducted by Major Lindsay Lockwood, Officer Commanding the Army's Australian Survey Corps Detachment 5th Field Survey Company based in Adelaide . In December 1946 the Secretary of the Department of the Army directed the Survey Corps' participation in the project. A Survey Corps detachment of ten personnel from the Adelaide unit set up a survey base camp at 'The Pines' near Pimba in March 1947, to commence a topographical mapping program which continued to 1953 when responsibility for surveys were transferred to the Department of the Interior. One member of the Survey Corps detachment which commenced work there in March 1947 was Sergeant ]Len Beadell
Leonard Beadell OAM BEM FIEMS (21 April 1923 – 12 May 1995) was a surveyor, road builder, bushman, artist and author, responsible for constructing over of roads and opening up isolated desert areas – some – of central Australia fr ...
.[ Australia was responsible for providing the testing facilities, personnel, and most of the funding, while the United Kingdom supplied most of the scientific equipment and personnel, and in addition to its financial contribution, paid for the weapons being used.][ At its peak, the complex had an area of , most of which was in South Australia, but included a satellite range in north-west Western Australia.][ This was later scaled back to a total area of ; still the largest land-based weapons test complex in the western world.]
Facilities at Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
supported the design and testing of many weapons and Upper Atmospheric Experiments trialled at Woomera.[ Weapons designed by the Joint Project and tested at Woomera include the Sea Wolf, Sea Slug, ]Rapier
A rapier () or is a type of sword with a slender and sharply-pointed two-edged blade that was popular in Western Europe, both for civilian use (dueling and self-defense) and as a military side arm, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.
Impor ...
, Sea Dart
Sea Dart, or GWS.30 was a Royal Navy surface-to-air missile system designed in the 1960s and entering service in 1973. It was fitted to the Type 42 destroyers (United Kingdom and Argentina), Type 82 destroyer and s of the Royal Navy. Originally ...
, and Bloodhound
The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar and, since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is called, ''l ...
surface-to-air missiles, the Black Knight
The black knight is a literary stock character who masks his identity and that of his liege by not displaying heraldry. Black knights are usually portrayed as villainous figures who use this anonymity for misdeeds. They are often contrasted with t ...
research rocket, the Blue Steel nuclear stand-off missile, the Malkara
Malkara ( el, Μάλγαρα, Malgara) is a town and district of Tekirdağ Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. It is located at 55 km west of Tekirdağ and 190 km from Istanbul. It covers an area of 1,225 km², which makes ...
anti-tank missile, the Ikara
Ikara is a town in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria, located around 75 kilometres north-east away from the city of Zaria. Ikara as a district consist of five towns which are Ikara, Tudun - wada, Nasarawa, Sabon - Gari, Jamfalan, Kurmin - Kogi, Hay ...
anti-submarine missile, and the GAF Jindivik
The GAF Jindivik is a radio-controlled target drone produced by the Australian Government Aircraft Factories (GAF). The name is from an Aboriginal Australian word meaning "the hunted one". Two manually-controlled prototypes, were built as the GAF ...
target aircraft.[ Missile testing commenced in 1949.][ The Joint Project ran until 1980.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the complex was the second busiest rocket range in the world next to ]Cape Canaveral
, image = cape canaveral.jpg
, image_size = 300
, caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991
, map = Florida#USA
, map_width = 300
, type =Cape
, map_caption = Location in Florida
, location ...
.
When the Anglo-Australian Joint Project began to wind down in the early 1970s, the village population began to rapidly drop from its peak of about 7000 residents in the mid-1960s. However, with the establishment of the USAF/ADF Joint Defence Communications Facility at the nearby Nurrungar site in 1969, approximately south of Woomera, along with its 1100 permanent staff, the village population stabilised at around 4,500 people (including around 800 children). In the late 1990s, as the Nurrungar program was winding down, the ADF reassessed the role of Woomera in its future force structure. What became apparent to the ADF at that time was that the Woomera Test Range was the only land-based test range left in the Western world capable of testing the next (or what is now termed '5th') generation of weapons systems within a fully instrumented, land-based, specialised test and evaluation range. This assessment was to redefine the future role and strategic importance of the Woomera Range Complex within Australia's long-term Defence requirements.
United States
;Deep Space Station 41
During the early 1960s, the Woomera Range participated in the Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
and Gemini space programs. Specialised tracking and communications stations were established at Red Lake approximately north of Woomera and at Mirikata about west of Woomera. These stations were important during the first Moon landing mission. One significant facility installed by the US was the highly specialised "Deep Space Station 41" (DSS-41). This facility was constructed at the edge of Island Lagoon about south of Woomera and was directly supported from the Woomera Defence Village. DSS-41 played a role in the 'race for space' from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, when the main tracking systems were dismantled and returned to the US. While none of the DSS-41 facility exists, the roadworks and building sites for this facility are still visible. In June 2022 Google Earth shows that a new facility has been constructed on the old DSS-41 site.
After the cancellation of the Joint Project, the complex was operated by Defence Research Centre Salisbury (former Weapons Research establishment, now Defence Science and Technology Organisation
The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) is part of the Australian Department of Defence dedicated to providing science and technology support to safeguard Australia and its national interests. The agency's name was changed from Defenc ...
) in support of Australian Defence projects as they arose and also in support of German and NASA Sounding Rocket launches to observe the Supernova 1987A and other astronomical experiments. Woomera then focused on supporting the nearby joint Australia-United States Joint Defence Space Communications Station, Nurrungar
Joint Defence Facility Nurrungar (JDFN), located on the edge of Island Lagoon, approximately 15 km south of Woomera, South Australia, was an Earth station in Australia operated jointly by the Australian Department of Defence and the United ...
.[ The surveillance facility closed in 1999.
]
Australian
During the 1990s it became apparent to the RAAF that Woomera was the only land-based test range left in the western world that was large enough for the testing of the generation of weapons systems which Australia was soon to acquire. Beginning with the instrumented range (Range E) in 1991, the RAAF has gradually taken over responsibility for the operation of the whole complex on behalf of the Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
. In 2009, Joint Project 3024 was established to upgrade the range's instrumentation systems, and Project R7034 established to upgrade and modernise the required infrastructure. These projects have a 2020 ready point to coincide with the introduction of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
Historically, for both Woomera and Australia, following the end of the Anglo-Australian Joint Project no further development occurred to make use of the technologies, skills and knowledge gained while the Project was operating. Australia became the fourth nation in the world to build and place in orbit a satellite from its own territory (WRESAT
WRESAT or Weapons Research Establishment Satellite was the first Australian satellite, named after its designer. WRESAT was launched on 29 November 1967 using a modified American Redstone rocket with two upper stages known as a Sparta from the W ...
), that was the height, and end, of Australia's foray into space activities using its own purpose-built facility at Lake Hart (the ELDO
Eldo is a given name is a variation of Eldho and may refer to the following people
People
*Eldo Abraham, Indian politician
* Eldo T. Ridgway (1880–1955), American physician and politician
Fictional characters
*''Eldo Davip'',a fictional soldie ...
site at Launch Area 6 of the Range). These launchers (there were two, and a third never completed) are now a relic of the Range's significant history of space-based activities. These two old launchers still tower over ten stories high over the inland Lake Hart dry salt lake, but are also a mute testament to Australia's once renowned position in space research and development. That former position, however, was recognised in 2007 with the unveiling of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) plaque commemorating Woomera's induction into the AIAA hall of fame, a distinction that placed Woomera's contribution to aerospace history and development on a par with Kitty Hawk (site of the first heavier than air controlled flight), and the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon (site of the first inter-planetary landing by humans). By 1999 the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and the RAAF's Aircraft Research and Development Unit
The Royal Australian Air Force's Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) plans, conducts and analyses the results of ground and flight testing of existing and new Air Force aircraft. ARDU consists of three test and evaluation flights ...
identified the future potential for the complex, particularly as it was one of the few sites in the world where over-the-horizon weapons testing was feasible.[
Prior to this review, the RAAF's Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU), and in conjunction with the DSTO, had been continuing to utilise the former 'Range E' (instrumented) facility since 1991. In the mid-1990s, ARDU took over total management of the Range from the then DSTO but with the creation of Defence Estate, the administration of the Woomera Prohibited Area itself was handed back to Estate to manage, with RAAF only maintaining control over the defined Woomera Instrumented Test and Evaluation Range (formerly Range E and as the instrumented portion of the WPA was then known). Over the following ten years (1997–2007), the RAAF re-defined the purpose and operation of the range and, by 2007, Chief of Air Force had again assumed full command of the entire Woomera Test Range Complex (i.e. both the Range and the Base).
The RAAF Woomera Test Range (WTR) is the principal formation of the WRC and the primary operational reason for the existence of the Range Complex. Access to and use of the WRC is managed through Headquarters, ]Air Warfare Centre RAAF
The Air Warfare Centre (AWC) is a Force Element Group of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) based at RAAF Base Edinburgh. It was formerly titled the Aerospace Operational Support Group (AOSG) and was reformed into the AWC in 2016.
The role o ...
, with the AWC's Air Force Ranges Directorate (AFRD) responsible for assuring the overall capabilities of the Range. The day-to-day operation of the WTR element of the WRC is the responsibility of the Woomera Test Range Squadron (WTR SQN). In this role, the WTR SQN is also directly supported by Headquarters AWC; No. 20 Squadron RAAF
No. 20 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) support squadron. Coming under the control of No. 96 Wing RAAF, No. 96 Wing, it is responsible for the management of the airfield at RAAF Base Woomera, South Australia. The squadron origina ...
; and Defence contractors permanently based at RAAF Base Woomera. In 2007, the Woomera Test Range was acknowledged by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...
(AIAA) as a site of world aerospace historical significance.
In 2016 the Australian Government announced plans for an 297-million remediation of the range and the upgrade of the measuring and monitoring and sensor systems at Woomera. Raytheon Australia was awarded the contract. The works are intended to accommodate performance tests of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...
and provide access for the United States military. Raytheon announced that the range would be challenged by the testing of "new remotely piloted air systems, evolved network centric warfare capabilities, and weapons fitted to the EA-18G Growlers and Joint Strike Fighters" after the upgrade.
The base was also used for testing of the Blue Streak
Blue Streak or Bluestreak may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Blue Streak'' (album), a 1995 album by American blues guitarist Luther Allison
* Blue Streak (comics), a secret identity used by three separate Marvel Comics supervillains
* Bluestreak (co ...
missile system.
Other military uses
In 2013 testing began on Taranis
In Celtic mythology, Taranis (Proto-Celtic: *''Toranos'', earlier ''*Tonaros''; Latin: Taranus, earlier Tanarus) is the god of thunder, who was worshipped primarily in Gaul, Hispania, Britain, and Ireland, but also in the Rhineland and Danube r ...
, a drone aircraft which is the result of a joint project between UK defence and BAE Systems. In December 2009 there were up to ten different tests that occurred on the complex daily, and bookings for access had been made as far in advance as 2023. The increase in interest from other parties prompted the Australian government to mark $500 million in funding for Woomera in May 2009, to update tracking systems and other infrastructure. The complex is currently used for Australian Defence Force trials, and access is leased to foreign militaries and private companies for their own testing of weapons systems, rockets, and drone aircraft
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
.
Civil aerospace use
The complex has also been used for rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
ry.[ During the 1950s, the ]Black Knight
The black knight is a literary stock character who masks his identity and that of his liege by not displaying heraldry. Black knights are usually portrayed as villainous figures who use this anonymity for misdeeds. They are often contrasted with t ...
rocket (as a component of Blue Streak) was tested at the range.[ The first rocket launch occurred in 1957, and continued until the last satellite launch, ]Prospero X-3
The ''Prospero'' satellite, also known as the X-3, was launched by the United Kingdom in 1971. It was designed to undertake a series of experiments to study the effects of the space environment on communications satellites and remained operat ...
in 1971.[ Australia's first satellite, ]WRESAT
WRESAT or Weapons Research Establishment Satellite was the first Australian satellite, named after its designer. WRESAT was launched on 29 November 1967 using a modified American Redstone rocket with two upper stages known as a Sparta from the W ...
, was launched from Woomera in 1967. The complex was awarded a National Engineering Landmark in 1999. Although initially allowed to lapse after the cancellation of the Joint Project, the use of the range for rocket research later increased.[ In 2002, the ]University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = B ...
launched a rocket carrying the HyShot
HyShot is a research project of The University of Queensland, Australiabr>Centre for Hypersonics to demonstrate the possibility of supersonic combustion under flight conditions using two scramjet engines, one designed by The University of Queensla ...
engine: the first successful flight of a hypersonic scramjet
A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully ...
engine.[
During the Cold War, Woomera had the second highest quantity and rate of rocket launches in the world after ]NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's facilities at Cape Canaveral
, image = cape canaveral.jpg
, image_size = 300
, caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991
, map = Florida#USA
, map_width = 300
, type =Cape
, map_caption = Location in Florida
, location ...
.
Between 1957 and 2007, over 518 launches from Woomera were recorded.
Other launches included:
* 1957 to 1987, 258 Skylark
''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...
rockets were launched with various agencies including the UK, the European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
and the German Aerospace Center
The German Aerospace Center (german: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany ...
* In the 1970s, NASA launched 20 Aerobee
The Aerobee rocket was one of the United States' most produced and productive sounding rockets. Developed by the Aerojet Corporation, the Aerobee was designed to combine the altitude and launching capability of the V-2 with the cost effective ...
series 150, 170, 200 and 200A rockets for experimental purposes.
* In 1995, NASA launched its last rocket from the range.
* On 9 July 2017 a Sonda rocket was launched on an Australian hypersonic
In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds 5 times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above.
The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since in ...
mission, which impacted on the range.[
Asteroid sampling spacecraft retrieval:
* In June 2010 and December 2020, the Japanese space probes ]Hayabusa
was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis.
''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C ...
and Hayabusa2
is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese state space agency JAXA. It is a successor to the ''Hayabusa'' mission, which returned asteroid samples for the first time in June 2010. ''Hayabusa2'' was launched on 3 December 2 ...
returned samples from asteroids 25143 Itokawa
25143 Itokawa (provisional designation ) is a sub-kilometer near-Earth object of the Apollo group and a potentially hazardous asteroid. It was discovered by the LINEAR program in 1998 and later named after Japanese rocket engineer Hideo Itokawa ...
and 162173 Ryugu
162173 Ryugu, provisional designation , is a near-Earth object and a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. It measures approximately in diameter and is a dark object of the rare spectral type Cb, with qualities of both a C-type ...
respectively by landing within the Woomera Prohibited Area.
Current uses
Baker Observatory
The Woomera Baker Observatory lies within the WPA. There is a public telescope
A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...
which belongs to the Defence Department. Local volunteers assist RAAF Woomera in hosting stargazing observatory nights for the public and visiting military units. In March 2020, a new telescope was installed to replace the old one, which had been damaged five years earlier when its corrector plate
A catadioptric optical system is one where refraction and Reflection (physics), reflection are combined in an optical system, usually via lens (optics), lenses (dioptrics) and curved mirrors (catoptrics). Catadioptric combinations are used in focu ...
had been accidentally cracked.
Other uses
In 2004, V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
team Team Dynamik
Team Dynamik was an Australian motor racing team that competed in Australian V8 Supercar racing between 2001 and 2005.
History
Owned by Kieran Wills, Adelaide based Team Dynamik debuted in the 2001 with Simon Wills racing an ex Gibson Motorsp ...
were discovered to be conducting illegal vehicle testing at the Woomera site. The team claimed they were testing an aerodynamic enhancement device but were later fined AU$
The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Isla ...
132,000 for breaching series' testing regulations.
In 2011 Federal Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, together with South Australian Premier Mike Rann
Michael David Rann, , (born 5 January 1953) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and Australian am ...
, announced that large areas of the Woomera Protected Area would be opened up for mining. This followed years of negotiations for the "mixed use" of the area, which contains many billions of dollars of mineral resources.
Non-defence users of the area include pastoralists, Aboriginal people and traditional owners, mining and exploration companies with leases in the WPA (including Arrium
Arrium was an Australian mining and materials company, employing nearly 10,000 workers,
that went into voluntary administration in 2016 with debts of more than $2 billion. In 2017 it was acquired by British-owned Liberty House Group.
Histo ...
and OZ Minerals), opal
Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline forms ...
miners, tourists, research organisations and rail operator, One Rail Australia
One Rail Australia is an Australian rail freight operator company. Founded by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in 1997 as Australian Southern Railroad, and later renamed Genesee & Wyoming Australia, it was renamed One Rail Australia in February 2020 af ...
. Modern mines within the area include the Challenger gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
mine, Peculiar Knob iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
mine, Prominent Hill copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
mine and the Cairn Hill iron ore mine. As of 2017, only Prominent Hill is operational. Peculiar Knob is in care and maintenance owing to a weak iron ore price, while ore bodies at Cairn Hill and Challenger have been exhausted.
Management
Land area management and administration
Effective from 1 January 2015, the management of the Woomera Range Complex was reorganised under the new RAAF Air Warfare Centre
The Air and Space Warfare Centre (ASWC) is a Royal Air Force research and testing organisation based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. It has a training branch nearby as a lodger unit of RAF Cranwell and other branches elsewhere, including ...
(AWC). Operations management of the complex are managed through Headquarters Air Warfare Centre, while day-to-day operation of the range is the responsibility of the Woomera Test Range Squadron, which was expected to be renamed to a 'numbered' squadron during 2016. The Woomera Test Range Squadron is a sub-element of the Air Force Ranges Directorate (AFRD), which is also part of the Air Warfare Centre. Headquarters AWC, Air Force Ranges Directorate and the Test Range Squadron are all currently based at RAAF Base Edinburgh
RAAF Base Edinburgh is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military airbase located in Edinburgh approximately north of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia and forms part of the Edinburgh Defence Precinct.
The base is primarily home to No 9 ...
, in Adelaide, located approximately south-west of the complex. RAAF Base Woomera was formed in January 2015 by amalgamation of RAAF Woomera Airfield and the Woomera Village. No.20 (Woomera) Squadron was formed on 1 April 2015 to manage the operation of the aerodrome, while the Woomera 'village' element of RAAF Base Woomera essentially continues to operate as it has done since 1982. The Defence Estate & Infrastructure Group manage the operations of the village within the new RAAF Base Woomera structure, but the village remains open to the public as it has been since 1982. The Village remains totally owned and operated by Defence and exclusively supports the needs of Defence activities at the WRC.
Access is managed by the Department of Defence Woomera Prohibited Area Coordination Office using a permit system.
Security
There are a considerable number of warning signs across the range and on public access roads throughout the WPA warning travellers not to leave those routes without the permission of the Department of Defence. Since the beginning of 2012, the RAAF has also established, in conjunction with the South Australian Police, regular patrols of all roads and sites across the WPA to ensure public safety, particularly during periods when Range activities necessitate the closure of public access roadways and other easements (such at the main trunk railway line to ).
RAAF Base Woomera
RAAF Base Woomera is co-managed, but as part of the wider WRC facility, by RAAF Combat Support Group (CSG) and the Defence Estate & Infrastructure Group (DEIG). CSG's role, delivered through No.20 (Woomera) Squadron, is to essentially operate the aerodrome precinct ('Base Sector North') element of the base in direct support of Defence activities at the WRC. DEIG's role with the WRC is two-fold; firstly DEIG is responsible for the operation of the 'village' support elements of the base (i.e. 'Base Sector South') such as messing, accommodation, security and other normal RAAF Base services and, secondly, DEIG are responsible for managing the wider Defence estate and infrastructure needs of the entire Range and Base complex. Consistent with the operation of all other RAAF Bases, DEIG manages a range of contractors to Defence to deliver the required services at Woomera.
Woomera Prohibited Area Advisory Board
The Woomera Prohibited Area Advisory Board monitors the operations of the Woomera Prohibited Area Coordination Office and meets semi-annually to recommend amendments to co-existence policies and procedures; develop high-level relationships between Defence and the resources sector; resolve disputes between Defence and non-Defence users; report annually on the balance of interests in the WPA; and conduct a review every seven years of the balance of interests in the WPA. , the WPA Advisory Board membership included:
Minutes of the Board from 2012 to 2016 were partially released following a Freedom of Information
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigeno ...
request in 2016.
Aboriginal sites
Large areas within the Woomera Prohibited Area overlap with the native title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...
determination of the Kokatha
The Kokatha, also known as the Kokatha Mula, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. They speak the Kokatha language, close to or a dialect of the Western Desert language.
Country
Traditional Kokatha lands extend ov ...
people, an Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
people of South Australia. The dunes and trees are considered sacred to the Kokatha people, being linked to their Tjukurpa
The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his c ...
(Dreaming) stories, in particular that of the Seven Sisters creation story. In particular, the black oak
Black Oak may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Black Oak, Arkansas
* Black Oak, Daviess County, Indiana
* Black Oak, Lake County, Indiana, a neighborhood of Gary, Indiana
* Black Oak, Missouri
Other
* Black Oak Arkansas
Black Oak Ar ...
trees are relate to male Kokatha connections to this storyline.
In 2021, an anti-aircraft missile Anti-aircraft missiles are guided missiles designed to destroy or damage aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dy ...
was found at Lake Hart West, a registered Aboriginal heritage site, about southeast of the trees, and this was not removed for around a year.[
Within the prohibited area, there is also a "red zone" which is used for the most intensive weapons testing and for which access permits are not generally issued, and this area is supposed to be cleaned by the Department of Defence and the trees protected when testing is under way. However, a 2022 inspection by ]SBS News
''SBS World News'' is the news service of the Special Broadcasting Service in Australia. Its flagship nightly bulletin is broadcast at on SBS with additional weeknight 'late' bulletins from on SBS. ''SBS News'' is the name of the news app ...
reporters and Kokatha representatives found that there were shell fragments of carbon fibre
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
on the dunes around the site.[
There are also a number of significant and rare ]archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
sites which are remnants of previous Kokatha
The Kokatha, also known as the Kokatha Mula, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. They speak the Kokatha language, close to or a dialect of the Western Desert language.
Country
Traditional Kokatha lands extend ov ...
habitation within the weapons testing range, which are described in a 2020 heritage management plan prepared for the Department of Defence by GML Heritage Consultants.There are at least 14 separate stone foundations at Lake Hart North (which is not used by the department), which the archaeologists surmised were either "habitation structures" or "low-walled hunting hides".
At another location, Wild Dog Creek, there are a number of rock engraving
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s in the Panaramitee Style (generally dated to the Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
, 10,000 years ago), created by chipping away the rock with sharp tools. Other Aboriginal Australian rock art
Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving ...
exists throughout the area, including at Lake Hart, portraying, among other things, footprints which match the Genyornis, a giant bird that went extinct thousands of years ago.[
The report states that the location was likely "inhabited and used for many thousands of years", informally dated to up to 50,000 years ago (similar to human habitation in the nearby Flinders Ranges), and the sites could provide hitherto unknown cultural information about the Australian desert area.][
]
See also
*British nuclear tests at Maralinga
*Island Lagoon Tracking Station
*Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar
*Koonibba Test Range
*List of airports in South Australia
*List of Royal Australian Air Force installations
*Tallaringa Conservation Park
*Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre
*Woomera Launch Area 5
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woomera Range Complex, Raaf
Royal Australian Air Force bases
1947 establishments in Australia
Military installations established in 1947
Military installations in South Australia
Rocket launch sites
Space programme of Australia
Far North (South Australia)
Weapons test sites
Proving grounds
Recipients of Engineers Australia engineering heritage markers
Space programme of the United Kingdom
History of science and technology in the United Kingdom
Science and technology in South Australia