2 Range Description
4-Wing Cold Lake is situated in the remote northeastern corner of Alberta on the
border with Saskatchewan. It was opened in 1954 to be used as an air weapons
training base, and still performs that function today. 4-Wing also takes care of the
nearby Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR), one of the most sophisticated
facilities of its type in the world. It is the only tactical bombing range in Canada, and
incorporates over 100 target areas with over 700 individual targets ranging from
disused vehicles to dummy surface-to-air missile sites and airfields. CLAWR has
been designated a supersonic range, with pilots able to fly their aircraft at speed down
to 30 meters altitude. The CLAWR is heavily used during the annual Maple Flag
exercise, which brings together several NATO air forces for six weeks of intensive
flying above the Cold Lake pine forests.
CLAWR covers an area of approximately 180 km by 65 km and is approximately 54
km northeast of CFB Cold Lake at the junction with Saskatchewan with Primerose
Lake as a boundary. This beautiful lake is used for commercial fishing and also serves
as an area to approach the ranges. There are four main ranges in CLAWR: Alpha and
Bravo ranges that are part of the Primerose Lake Evaluation Range (PLER), Jimmy
Lake and Shaver River ranges. Alpha and Bravo ranges are located, respectively,
from South to North following the southwest shoreline of Primerose Lake (see Map in
Appendix A), while the Jimmy Lake Range is located between Jimmy Lake and
Primerose Lake. The Shaver River Range is remote to the Lakes and close to the
Shaver River. This range is the one most dedicated to live firing using air bombing
with 500 pounders. All ranges in CLAWR contain several ground target complexes
for bombing training. Both the Jimmy Lake and Shaver River ranges are licensed for
live weapons and use up to 2,000 lbs general purpose bombs and live firing missiles.
The Primerose Lake water zones are called drop zones Charlie, Delta and Echo and
are used to analyse the performance of stores such as dispenser or cluster munitions.
3
DRDC Valcartier TR 2004-204
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