Wuwei
37°58'N 102°48'E
New construction at the Wuwei Training Facility began in 1967 and continued through at least the end of 1969, but at a slow pace. In mid-August 1970, a fairly high level of activity at the facility and a substantial amount of missile equipment was observed. The sighting of DF-3 missiles and equipment in November 1970 at Wuwei suggested that the system was near IOC
and that an early troop-training cycle could be expected.
In September 1970, a training site was established 20 nautical miles south of Wuwei near Shuangta. Here crews became familiar with setting the missile up and conducting a launch sequence. Actual launches are not conducted from Wuwei or the Shuangta training site.
The first photographic evidence of troop training with the DF-3 was obtained in coverage of Wuwei in November 1970. DF-3 equipment at this training facility was been observed throughout 1971 and 1972. The troops were apparently first brought to Wuwei for classroom and missile handling instructions. After completing classroom instructions, DF-2 trainees probably moved to Shuangta for field exercises. The DF-3 crews received missile and equipment familiarization training at Wuwei. After this phase of training is completed, DF-2 crews moved to Shuangchengtzu and DF-3 crews to Wuchai for conducting practice launches. When these practice launches were completed, the crews apparently departed to a deployed site.
Sources and Resources
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/facility/wuwei.htm
Maintained by Robert Sherman
Originally created by John Pike
Updated Saturday, June 07, 1997 5:55:21 PM
