UXO Site selected: Naval Facility ElCentro, CA |
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General Area: , CA Site Type/Program: Operational - Navy Location: ElCentro, California Brief History: Naval Air Facility El Centro was commissioned on May 1, 1946, as a Naval Air Station. Prior to that, the base was a Marine Corps Air Station. Through the years, Navy El Centro has had several names: Naval Air Facility, Naval Auxiliary Landing Field, Naval Air Station, and the National Parachute Test Range. For the first 35 years, the mission of NAF El Centro was devoted to aeronautical escape system testing, evaluation, and design. In November 1947, the Parachute Experimental Division from Lakehurst, New Jersey moved to El Centro. In 1951, the Joint Parachute Facility was established and consisted of the Naval Parachute Unit and the Air Force 6511th Test Group (Parachute). The Air Force remained part of El Centros test organization for the next 27 years. In 1964, the U.S. Naval Aerospace Recovery Facility was designated and on July 1, 1973, it was combined with the Naval Air Facility El Centro to form the National Parachute Test Range. Exactly six years later, the parachute test mission was transferred to Naval Weapons Center China Lake; and El Centro again became a NAF. Today, NAF El Centro provides realistic training to active and reserve aviation units and activities of the Navys operating and training forces. Squadrons visit NAF El Centro to practice gunnery, bombing, carrier landings and air combat. Navy Squadrons visit the Naval Air Facility (NAF) El Centro to practice gunnery, bombing, carrier landings and air combat. The facility has two operating runways and a remote-controlled target area that allows naval aviators to practice ordnance delivery and a desert range used for air-to-ground bombing, rocket firing, strafing, dummy drops and mobile land target training. NAF El Centro has a unique climate, vast unobstructed desert terrain, limited non-military air traffic and its own dedicated gunnery and bomb ranges which make NAF El Centro an ideal environment for aerial combat maneuvering, air-to-air gunnery, bombing practice and electronic warfare training. |
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Range / Site Description: Associated Munitions: Activities Completed: Unknown Issues: Unknown Other Information: Operational Range - No UXO response planned |
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