Campo de Provas Brigadeiro Velloso

Campo de Provas Brigadeiro Velloso – CPBV (English: Brigadeiro Velloso Testing Range) (ICAO: SBCC) is a large complex of the Brazilian Armed Forces located in Serra do Cachimbo (English: Smoking Pipe Mountains), in the southern part of Pará, Brazil. It is named after Haroldo Coimbra Velloso (1920–1969), a soldier and politician who was responsible for the complex's creation.[1]

Campo de Provas Brigadeiro Velloso
Near Serra do Cachimbo in Brazil
Coordinates09°20′02″S 054°57′55″W
TypeTesting and Training Range
Area21,588 km2 (8,335 sq mi)
Site information
OperatorBrazilian Air Force
StatusActive
Site history
In useJanuary 20, 1954 (1954-01-20)

History

Campo de Provas Brigadeiro Velloso has an area of 21,588 km2 and perimeter of 653 km within the limits of four municipalities: Altamira, Itaituba, Jacareacanga, and Novo Progresso

The complex has its origins on an airfield opened on January 20, 1954 when the Brazilian Government saw the need for a support facility for aircraft flying between the Northern Region (such as to the Amazon Rainforest) and the Southeast Region of Brazil (and to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo). Before the construction of the airfield travel was only possible by following a much longer coastal route.[2]

In the 1970s work was done in order to upgrade the facility to be a center of weapons testing for Brazilian Armed Forces with the purpose of the development of nuclear weapons. Rumored to have been carried out with technological aid from the Iraqi government, [3] it was initially ordered by military dictator Ernesto Geisel and ran from 1975 to 1990. At its conclusion, the work was characterized by the New York Times as such, "Brazilian physicists have concluded that the military was one or two years away from having the materials - 20 to 35 pounds of weapons-grade enriched uranium - to make a Hiroshima-type bomb." [3]

In 1990 it was decommissioned in a ceremony for media and scientific officials by the then President of Brazil Fernando Collor de Mello who symbolically threw a shovel full of concrete into an over 1,000-ft shaft of steel reinforced concrete which would have been the site of a nuclear detonation had the Brazilians been successful.[4] A week later Fernando Collor de Mello had this to say to the United Nations General Assembly, "Brazil today rejects the idea of any test that implies nuclear explosions, even for peaceful ends''.[3]

The facility now houses accommodations for 240 military personnel and a hospital for not only service members, but the local civilian populace too. In addition, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources maintains a research facility nearby

Accidents and incidents

References
  1. Rocha Luzardo, Antonio José (December 2002). "Nova tecnologia para vigilância patrimonial da Amazônia" (in Portuguese). Revista da Unifa. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
  2. "Campo de Provas Brigadeiro Velloso: Histórico" (in Portuguese). Força Aérea Brasileira. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
  3. Brooke, James; Times, Special to The New York (1990-10-09). "Brazil Uncovers Plan by Military To Build Atom Bomb and Stops It". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  4. "Stages of an underground nuclear test". 2016-01-06. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  5. "Accident description PP-AKF". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  6. "Accident description N600XL and PR-GTD". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
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