RAAF Woomera Range Complex

"Woomera Test Range" redirects here. For other uses, see Woomera.

RAAF Woomera Range Complex
near Woomera, South Australia in Australia
Launch of a NASA Skylark sounding rocket from the Woomera Range Complex in c. 1961
Map of South Australia showing the land area covered by the RAAF Woomera Range Complex

Coordinates30°57′19″S 136°31′56″E / 30.9553°S 136.5322°E / -30.9553; 136.5322
Type
Area122,188 km2 (47,177 sq mi)
Site information
OwnerGovernment of South Australia
under a crown lease to the
Department of Defence
Operator Royal Australian Air Force
Open to
the public		Prohibited access except for Woomera Village and Stuart Highway
StatusActive
Site history
In use1946 (1946) – present
Test information
Nuclear tests9 (see British nuclear tests at Maralinga and Operation Totem)
Other testsMissiles, aircraft weapons, drone aircraft, rockets

The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately 450 km (280 mi) north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a Service of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The complex has a land area of 122,188 km2 (47,177 sq mi) or roughly the size of North Korea or Pennsylvania. The airspace 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.[1]

The complex has been variously known as the Anglo-Australian Long Range Weapons Establishment and then the Woomera Rocket Range;[2][3] the RAAF Woomera Test Range and in 2013, the facility was reorganised and renamed to the RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC).[4][5] 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 122,188 km2 (47,177 sq mi), the WPA is described by the RAAF as the largest land-based test range in the western world.[6] The Woomera Prohibited Area Coordination Office (WPACO) coordinates daily operation of the complex which comprises a mix of South Australian crown land and is covered by pastoral leases 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. 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.

The complex also contains RAAF Base Woomera, or the RAAF Woomera Airfield, the dual-runway military airfield located 3 NM (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) north[7] of the settlement of the Woomera Village. The airfield has been in military operation since a RAF Dakota landed at Woomera on 19 June 1947.[8]

  1. ^ Defence Regulation 2016 (Cth) r 58
  2. ^ Morton, Peter (1989). Fire across the Desert: Woomera and the Anglo-Australian Joint Project 1946–1980 (Digitised, 2017). Canberra, ACT: AGPS Press. ISBN 0-644-06068-9. OCLC 29261144.
  3. ^ "Woomera". www.astronautix.com. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  4. ^ Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey; Morris, Ewan; Prior, Robin (2008). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2nd ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press. p. 330. ISBN 978-0-19-551784-2. OCLC 271822831.
  5. ^ DeBelle, Penelope (25 July 2009). "Blast from the past". The Advertiser. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference WPACO was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ YPWR – Woomera (PDF). AIP En Route Supplement from Airservices Australia, effective 13 June 2024, Aeronautical Chart Archived 11 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Beadell, Len (1975). Still in the Bush. Adelaide: Rigby Limited. p. 101. ISBN 0-7270-0020-9.