NATO Missile Firing Installation


The NATO Missile Firing Installation or NAMFI is an extensive missile firing range located at Souda Bay on the island of Crete, Greece.

History

NAMFI was established in 1967 as a NATO training facility for Air Defence Systems and it takes advantage of clear atmospheric conditions throughout the year. Currently NAMFI is regularly used by the armed forces of Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. In the past it was also used by Denmark and Norway.

Activities

Today the firing range is used mostly for MIM-104 Patriot and MIM-23 Hawk launches, although a wide range of surface to air and air to surface missiles are fired occasionally. As the trajectories of the missiles cross busy air and sea areas, an Air and Sea surveillance radar system is used to resolve possible conflicts.