The NATO Missile Firing Installation or NAMFI (Greek: Πεδίο Βολής Κρήτης, "Crete Firing Range") is an extensive missile firing range located at Souda Bay on the island of Crete, Greece.
| NATO Missile Firing Installation | |
|---|---|
| Souda Bay, Crete, Greece Near Chania | |
 NAMFI emblem | |
| Coordinates | 35°34′22″N 24°10′25″E / 35.57278°N 24.17361°E |
| Type | missile firing range |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Hellenic Army |
| Operator | Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, United States |
| Website | http://www.namfi.gr |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1967 |
History
edit
NAMFI was established in 1967 as a NATO training facility for Air Defence Systems and it takes advantage of clear atmospheric conditions throughout the year. Currently NAMFI is regularly used by the armed forces of Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. In the past it was also used by Belgium, Denmark and Norway.[1]
Activities
editToday the firing range is used mostly for MIM-104 Patriot and MIM-23 Hawk launches, although a wide range of surface to air and air to surface missiles are fired occasionally. As the trajectories of the missiles cross busy air and sea areas, an Air and Sea surveillance radar system is used to resolve possible conflicts.[2]
References
edit- ^ L.S. Blaveris and D. Stergiou (January 2000). Πεδίο Βολής Κρήτης - Το πιο σημαντικό πεδίο βολής του ΝΑΤΟ. Στρατηγική (Strategy) (in Greek): 96–101.
- ^ "Nato Missile Fire Installation". Retrieved 12 September 2010. (in English and Greek)