DGA Essais de missiles, spaceport
DGA Essais de missiles is a military testing ground in France that operates across three separate sites in the Landes, Gironde, and Mediterranean regions. Each site handles a different type of testing, covering flight trials, pyrotechnic experiments, and underwater or aerial weapons testing.
The facility was founded in 1962 as a testing ground for military systems in the Landes region of southwestern France. From 2011 onward, two additional sites in Gironde and the Mediterranean were brought in to cover a broader range of weapons, including drones and naval systems.
The entire area is a restricted military zone and is not open to the public at any time. Since dangerous materials and weapons are regularly tested there, the surrounding zone should be kept at a safe distance.
The center is the only French testing facility certified by NATO for safety testing of munitions. This means that results from tests carried out there are directly accepted by other NATO member armed forces without any additional verification.
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