centre d'entraînement aux actions en zone urbaine
File:CENZUB-panneau-entree.JPG
The Centre d’entrainement aux actions en zone urbaine ({{lang|en|Urban Zone Combat Training Center}}) (CENZUB) is a purpose-built facility for training French armed forces in urban warfare skills. It is located at Sissonne in north-eastern France. It is the largest training area of its type in Europe. There are two constructed districts - Beausejour and Jeoffrecourt.{{cite web | title= Paras at CENZUB | publisher= Think Defence | date= 22 March 2012 | url= http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2012/03/paras-at-cenzub/ | accessdate= 10 February 2013 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120528042705/http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2012/03/paras-at-cenzub/ | archive-date= 28 May 2012 | url-status= dead }}
British Army units have used the facility while learning French urban tactics and using French equipment. This part of a wider programme for Anglo-French military cooperation following the Defence and Security Co-operation Treaty signed by British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in November 2010.{{cite web | last= | first= | title= Announcement British and French troops train together | publisher= Ministry of Defence | date= 6 January 2012 | url= https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-and-french-troops-train-together | accessdate= 10 February 2013 }}
Facilities
CENZUB offers several varied urban training environments:
- Technical and tactical skills acquisition module (Module d'acquisition des savoir-faire techniques et tactiques - MASTTAC)
:A street with roofless houses. Instructors are able to observe trainees and to move ahead to adjust the environment during training sessions.
- Beauséjour
: The village of Beauséjour consists of 63 different houses, a variety of obstacles (barriers, barricades, rubble), different types of streets (wide, narrow, S-shaped or unobstructed). It consists in various modules:
:* the village itself
:* a slum area in which it is impossible to enter with vehicles
:* a caravan camp
:* a street made up from 20-foot standard container, to refresh skills
:* a hamlet intended to show various ways in which a building could be "hardened", ie, made more defensible (setting up sandbags on the floor, booby traps, etc).
- The ammunition depot
:* a former warehouse where trainees can test their skills in progressing as a unit.
- Thuillots
: An "old town" district located in the military camp, still partially occupied, especially by CENZUB's mechanical workshops. It simulates the outskirts of a village (woods, road, field, track) with several large buildings.
- Jeoffrecourt
: The village of Jeoffrecourt represents a town of 5000 inhabitants, with tall buildings, commercial areas. It will simultaneously engage all military resources, including infantry, armour, artillery, engineers and aircraft. It has a main objective of training and restitution.
- Urban firing complex (Complexe de Tir en Zone UrBaine - CT ZUB)
: This range enables firing in an urban environment to add realism to the training.
- Opposing force (FORce ADverse - FORAD)
: 105 personnel (including women) act as opposing forces or civilians for realism. They are structured as a mixed company with two infantry sections on VAB armoured personnel carriers or trucks, a tank platoon with AMX-30 tanks and an engineering section equipped with MPG and EBG. This unit is able to play the role of a regular combat unit, militia, or civilian refugees, depending on the scenario.
{{Gallery
|title=Views of training
|align=center
|File:Entree-CENZUB.jpg|Entrance of CENZUB
|File:CENZUB-panneau-entree.JPG|Entrance of CENZUB
|File:CENZUB-MASTAC-2.JPG|The MASTAC open-roofed houses, where instructors can oversee trainees from above
|File:CENZUB-village-Beauséjour.JPG|Beauséjour
|File:CENZUB-Raid-Hotel.JPG|the "Raid Hotel"
|File:CENZUB-hameau-défensif.JPG|The "defensible hamlet" of Beauséjour
|File:CENZUB-FORAD.JPG|A member of FORAD (Opposing force)
|File:AMX 10-RC au CENZUB.jpg|AMX-10RC
|File:Soldat français au CENZUB 2.jpg|French infantry training
|File:Soldat français au CENZUB.jpg|French infantry training
}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.defense.gouv.fr/terre/presentation/directions-commandements-et-centres/centre-d-entrainement-aux-actions-en-zone-urbaine Centre d'entraînement aux actions en zone urbaine (in French)]
{{commons category|Urban Operations Training Centre (Sissone)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centre d'entrainement aux actions en zone urbaine}}