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 Arm ...

is located in the community of

Drachenbronn-Birlenbach Drachenbronn-Birlenbach is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin department of France. The commu ...

in the Bas-Rhin département. It houses the '' Centre de détection et de contrôle 05/901.'' The base uses the underground facilities of the former

Ouvrage Hochwald Ouvrage Hochwald is a ''gros ouvrage'' of the Maginot Line, one of the largest fortifications in the Line. Located on the Hochwald ridge in the Fortified Sector of Haguenau in the community of Drachenbronn-Birlenbach in the Bas-Rhin department ...

of the

Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...

. 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 ar ...

. 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-M ...

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, w ...

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 Fort du Salbert, also known as Fort Lefebvre, was built between 1874 and 1877. It was named after General François Joseph Lefebvre. It forms part of the Séré de Rivières system fortifications in the fortified region of Belfort in northeastern ...

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 Terr ...

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 ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''face ...

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 Est ...

. 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 ha ...

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 ...

References

External links

Base Aérienne 901
official site. * Website dedicated t
Commandant de Laubier
namesake of the base. {{authority control French Air and Space Force bases Bunkers in France