CENZUB

The Centre d’entrainement aux actions en zone urbaine (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.[1]

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.[1][2]

Facilities

CENZUB offers several varied urban training environments:

MASTTAC, showing observation walkway for instructors
  • 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.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Paras at CENZUB". Think Defence. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  2. ↑ "Announcement British and French troops train together". Ministry of Defence. 6 January 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
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