Area 1

Area 1 is used for large explosive tests. A natural bowl partially surrounds the 30-m-diameter firing area, and the protective bunker at the open end of the bowl is below the grade of the firing area. This provides a convenient setting for fragmentation, shaped charge, and explosively formed penetrator experiments. For ground shock experiments, test beds over 3-m deep have been constructed and filled with local or imported soil, rock, or cement-based materials.

On the left side of the bunker is a 4-m x 9-m reinforced concrete pad with a 4500-kg (5-ton) mobile hoist frame for installing test hardware or experiment components. The pad is used for smaller experiments when other test areas are occupied.

At the far end of the firing area is a 4-m-long, 1-m-diameter vertical shock tube. The bunker accommodates electronic equipment for dozens of channels of instrumentation with buried cables connected to a hardened junction box at the firing area.