Taverny Air Base (formerly ''Base Aérienne 921 "Frères Mahé" de Taverny'') is located in the communities of
Taverny
Taverny () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.
Inhabitants are called ''Tabernaciens''.
History
In 1806 the commune of Taverny merged with the neighboring commune of Saint-Leu, r ...
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 ...
, twenty kilometers north of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. Until 2011 it was the headquarters of the French Air Force nuclear strike force, with an underground command center.
The base is divided into three tiers with an area of approximately 15 hectares:
*The first tier is underground in a former
gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...
beneath the Forest of Montmorency. The facility comprised the hardened command facility for the French Air Force.
*The second tier is on the surface, and provided support services for the underground command center.
*The third tier is at the top of the hill, with facilities for secure military communications.
There were no aviation facilities apart from a heliport.
Description
The base is located on the flank of the heights of the community of Taverny, with the hardened facility between 70 and 80 meters below the surface in the former quarries. The tunnels are large enough for trucks to enter. The underground climate is described as warm and dry, but the tunnels require monitoring for water penetration and dissolution of the gypsum. Somewhat more than 1000 personnel are employed at the base.
The facility is provided with backup power and an independent water supply. A 2000m² Faraday Cage was completed in 1993 after six years of construction Magazine ''Vivre en Val-d'Oise'', n°92, juin-juillet-août 2005, p 50. - one of the largest in Europe.
History
* 1815: First commercial exploitation as a gypsum quarry.
* 1941-1944: During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the Germans converted some of these tunnels for industrial use. The SKF
ball bearing
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...
factory was moved there from south of Paris. At the time of the Allied invasion, the manufacture of
ball bearings
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...
had been started. The two main tunnels were connected and an entrance structure with gates was constructed. Before their evacuation of Paris, the Germans destroyed the equipment in the tunnels. Several places in the area of the plant show evidence of fire. According to a villager, the Germans used oil fires to destroy the equipment. This caused cracking and falling rocks. Mines and booby traps were left behind in the tunnels and the nearby woods; these were removed, along with the remains of the plant, by the U.S. Army. There is no evidence that the Allies bombed the tunnels during the occupation.
* 1946: The French Air Force used the quarry as a depot.
* 1957: The creation of the Air Defense Operations Center (''Centre d'Opération de la Défense Aérienne'' - CODA).
* 1961: The creation of the Territorial Air Defense Staff (''Etat-major de la Defense Aérienne du Territoire'' - DAT) and the Air Force Air Defense Command (''Commandement Air des Forces de Défense Aérienne'' - CAFDA). These organizations were dissolved in 1994 and replaced with the Air Defense and Air Operations Command (''Commandement de la Défense Aérienne et des Opérations Aériennes'' - CDAOA) and its Air Operations Center (''Centre de Conduite des Opérations Aériennes'' - CCOA).
* 1963: Creation of BA921, attached to the 2nd Air Region, and the installation on the surface of the Strategic Air Forces Command (''Commandement des Forces Aériennes Stratégiques'' - CFAS).
* 1967: Installation of the Strategic Forces Operations Center (''Centre d'Opérations des forces stratégiques'' - COFAS) underground.
* 1988: BA921 takes the name "Frères Mahé" ("Brothers Mahé" in English) in homage to three brothers killed in the command of their aircraft.
* 1992: Installation of the Special Operations Command ('' Commandement des Opérations Spéciales'' - COS).
* 2000: BA921 was attached to the Northern Air Region.
* 2006: Special Operations Command (COS) moves to BA107 at Villacoublay.
* 2007: The Air Operations Center moves to BA942 at Lyon Mont-Verdun. At the same time, the Air Defense and Air Operations (CDAOA) moves to BA117 in Paris and the Air Information Center (''Centre de Renseignement Air'' - CRA) moves to BA128 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 ...
.
* 2011: BA 921 is disestablished on 5 July 2011.
* 2020 : In the spring of 2020, it is decided to relocate the headquarters of the Strategic Air Forces on the base, i.e. a hundred people plus the ancillary services in 2024
Nuclear deterrent
Taverny provided information to the following organizations:
* The commander of the strategic air forces (''Commandement des forces aériennes stratégiques'' - CFAS), which constitute one leg of France's
nuclear deterrent
Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons.
As a sub-branch of military strategy, nuclear strategy attempts to match nuclear weapons as means to political ends. In addit ...
.
* The Analysis and Simulation Center for the Preparation of Air Operations (''Centre d'Analyse et de Simulation pour la Préparation des Opérations Aérienne'' - CASPOA).
* The Military Air traffic Control (''Direction de la Circulation Aérienne Militaire'' - DirCAM).
* The Meteorology Center for External Operations (''Centre de Météorologie des Opérations Extérieures'' - CMOE)
Other facilities
A similar Air Force facility exists northwest of
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
Force océanique stratégique
The Strategic Ocean Force (french: Force océanique stratégique, FOST) has been the synonym of the French Submarine Forces since 1999, which the commandant commands the ensemble related to, along with the squadron of nuclear attack submarine ...
'' - FOST), was located about 20 km to the south at
Houilles
Houilles () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is a northwestern suburb of Paris, located from the center of Paris.
History
Until 2000, the command post of French Navy's Ballisti ...