The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The complex has a land area of , 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 site operated by the RAAF for the purposes of testing defence materiel.

The complex has been variously known as the Anglo-Australian Long Range Weapons Establishment, the Woomera Rocket Range, and the RAAF Woomera Test Range, before being reorganised and renamed as the RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) in 2013. 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 , the WPA is described by the RAAF as the largest land-based test range in the western world. The Woomera Prohibited Area Coordination Office (WPACO) coordinates day-to-day operations of the complex, which comprises a mix of South Australian crown land 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 designated as 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, a dual-runway military airfield located north, Aeronautical Chart of the settlement of Woomera Village. The airfield has been in military operation since a RAF Dakota landed at Woomera on 19 June 1947.

Etymology and broad definitions The word woomera is an Australian Aboriginal word of the Dharug language of the Eora people of the Sydney basin; a woomera is a wooden spear-throwing device. Woomera was adopted initially as an appropriate name for the settlement of , that is also called Woomera Village, based on a recommendation from Group Captain Alfred George Pither.

Since its establishment in 1947 and its renaming in 2016 as the RAAF Woomera Range Complex, the defence facilities have been variously known as the Anglo-Australian Long Range Weapons Establishment and then the Woomera Rocket Range between 1947 and 1980 when it was operated by the Australian Government as a Defence research and long range weapons testing range. Since 1980 the complex has had various other titles and in more recent years, the RAAF facility has mainly been known as the RAAF Woomera Test Range. In 2013, and as part of the ongoing redevelopment and remediation of Woomera into its 'next-generation' configuration in readiness to support the ADF's 'Force2030' plan, the range facility was reorganised and renamed to the RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC).

The ground area of the WRC is defined by the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) and includes the Nurrungar Test Area (NTA). The WPA covers an area of and is described by the RAAF as the largest land-based test range in the western world. The WPA is highly prospective and the Government of South Australia and Geoscience Australia have assessed that by 2025 about 35 billion worth of iron ore, gold and other mineral resources are potentially exploitable from within the WPA. Access to the WPA for non-Defence use requires Commonwealth approval and is on the proviso that Defence activities will not be unduly compromised. The ground area of the WPA is bound generally by Woomera in the south-east, Roxby Downs and the village associated with the Olympic Dam mine in the east, in the north-east, and further north to the 28th parallel, Maralinga in the south-west, and the Trans-Australian Railway and Tarcoola in the south. The WPA is divided into green, amber and red zones; representing infrequent, periodic, and frequent Defence use, respectively. Easements through the WPA allows public transit on the Tarcoola-Alice Springs railway, Stuart Highway, Lake Cadibarrawirracanna Road, Olympic Dam Highway (B97), William Creek Road, as well as the Woomera Village. Permits are required to use the Anne Beadell Highway. From time to time, and for safety reasons, Defence is able to close access for short periods along these easements during the conduct of tests carried out on the complex. 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 and recommends amendments to co-existence policies and procedures; develop high-level relationships between Defence and the resources sector; resolve disputes between Defence and non-Defence users; report annually on the balance of interests in the WPA; and conduct a review every seven years of the balance of interests in the WPA. Its members comprise appointments from the Australian and South Australian governments.

The airspace above the WPA is an integral part of the WRC. Entry into Woomera Restricted Airspace (WRX) is controlled by the RAAF for safety and security reasons during the conduct of some activities on the complex. Airservices Australia defines the exact limits of restricted airspace in their annual handbook. When required, the RAAF issues a 'Notice to Airmen' (NOTAM) which effectively 'closes' access to any part of the WRX when safety or security needs require such action during the conduct of Defence activities at the complex.

History The groundspace of the complex is known as the Woomera Prohibited Area and measures . It was first declared a prohibited area in 1947.

Military use Anglo-Australian Germany's use of V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rockets during World War II prompted the British to establish their own rocket testing programme. However, the density of population in the United Kingdom made testing risky, so the British turned to Australia, asking for a site with a long testing corridor containing minimal population. The two nations joined in the Anglo-Australian Joint Project, a Commonwealth weapons design and test program established in 1946. In April 1946 a mission from the United Kingdom led by Lieutenant-General JF Evetts CB CBE MC flew to Mt Eba homestead to carry out the first investigation for the suitability of the area for a guided missile range. His survey and mapping adviser was Colonel Lawrence Fitzgerald OBE, Director of Military Survey, Army Headquarters. There was little in the way of adequate surveys and maps of the area and in September 1946, soon after the project was approved by the Government, a survey and mapping reconnaissance of the area from Pimba north to the Musgrave Ranges was conducted by Major Lindsay Lockwood, Officer Commanding the Army's Australian Survey Corps Detachment 5th Field Survey Company based in Adelaide. In December 1946 the Secretary of the Department of the Army directed the Survey Corps' participation in the project. A Survey Corps detachment of ten personnel from the Adelaide unit set up a survey base camp at 'The Pines' near Pimba in March 1947, to commence a topographical mapping program which continued to 1953 when responsibility for surveys were transferred to the Department of the Interior.Coulthard-Clark, CD, 2000, Australia's Military Mapmakers – The Royal Australian Survey Corps 1915–96, Oxford University Press, Fitzgerald, Lawrence, Brigadier (Retd) RA Svy, 1980, Lebanon to Labuan, One member of the Survey Corps detachment which commenced work there in March 1947 was Sergeant Len Beadell. Australia was responsible for providing the testing facilities, personnel, and most of the funding, while the United Kingdom supplied most of the scientific equipment and personnel, and in addition to its financial contribution, paid for the weapons being used. At its peak, the complex had an area of , most of which was in South Australia, but included a satellite range in north-west Western Australia. This was later scaled back to a total area of ; still the largest land-based weapons test complex in the western world.

Facilities at Salisbury supported the design and testing of many weapons and Upper Atmospheric Experiments trialled at Woomera. Weapons designed by the Joint Project and tested at Woomera include the Sea Wolf, Sea Slug, Rapier, Sea Dart, and Bloodhound surface-to-air missiles, the Black Knight research rocket, the Blue Steel nuclear stand-off missile, the Malkara anti-tank missile, the Ikara anti-submarine missile, and the GAF Jindivik target aircraft. Missile testing commenced in 1949. The Joint Project ran until 1980.

When the Anglo-Australian Joint Project began to wind down in the early 1970s, the village population began to rapidly drop from its peak of about 7000 residents in the mid-1960s. However, with the establishment of the USAF/ADF Joint Defence Communications Facility at the nearby Nurrungar site in 1969, approximately south of Woomera, along with its 1100 permanent staff, the village population stabilised at around 4,500 people (including around 800 children). In the late 1990s, as the Nurrungar program was winding down, the ADF reassessed the role of Woomera in its future force structure. What became apparent to the ADF at that time was that the Woomera Test Range was the only land-based test range left in the Western world capable of testing the next (or what is now termed '5th') generation of weapons systems within a fully instrumented, land-based, specialised test and evaluation range. This assessment was to redefine the future role and strategic importance of the Woomera Range Complex within Australia's long-term Defence requirements.

United States Deep Space Station 41

During the early 1960s, the Woomera Range participated in the Mercury and Gemini space programs. Specialised tracking and communications stations were established at Red Lake approximately north of Woomera and at Mirikata about west of Woomera. These stations were important during the first Moon landing mission. One significant facility installed by the US was the highly specialised "Deep Space Station 41" (DSS-41). This facility was constructed at the edge of Island Lagoon about south of Woomera and was directly supported from the Woomera Defence Village. DSS-41 played a role in the 'race for space' from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, when the main tracking systems were dismantled and returned to the US. While none of the DSS-41 facility exists, the roadworks and building sites for this facility are still visible. In June 2022 Google Earth shows that a new facility has been constructed on the old DSS-41 site.

After the cancellation of the Joint Project, the complex was operated by Defence Research Centre Salisbury (former Weapons Research establishment, now Defence Science and Technology Group) in support of Australian Defence projects as they arose and also in support of German and NASA Sounding Rocket launches to observe the Supernova 1987A and other astronomical experiments. Woomera then focused on supporting the nearby joint Australia-United States Joint Defence Space Communications Station, Nurrungar. The surveillance facility closed in 1999.

Australian