Aero Vodochody Builds First Firing Range in the Czech Republic

Czech company Aero Vodochody has received permission to operate its tunnel firing range, the first such facility built to test aerial guns and ammunition in the country.

The firing range, which is located on the company's premises in Vodochody, will be used mainly for shooting air cannons of a caliber larger than 20 mm.

The ammunition tunnel firing range may be used for firing activities related to Aero's manufacturing, development, testing, and commercial activities. This firing range is primarily intended for special ballistic testing of weapons and ammunition of caliber greater than 20 mm. It may also be used for firing various types of firearms firing cartridges of an ammunition nature.

"The range will be used mainly for test firing of air-launched guns. Specifically, for example, the shooting of 23mm cannons from Bulgarian L-39 ZAs, which are undergoing an overhaul in our country, or tests of the potential armament of the new L-39NG trainer aircraft," specifies Viktor Sotona, President and CEO of Aero.

The tunnel firing range is located in Aero's fenced compound, north of Vodochody Airport. It is the only firing range in the Czech Republic that is designed for firing from aircraft guns. The shooting range has concrete walls one meter thick and the ceiling at the thickest point at the end of the tunnel is one and a half meters thick. At the end of the tunnel, there is a 15-meter-thick sand mound. All this is designed to safely intercept even large-caliber projectiles. This firing range is a permanent, indoor, tunnel test range not open to the public and not used for business purposes. The range shall permit the firing of authorized weapons and ammunition, by authorized methods of fire as specified in the applicable operating regulations. There is also a 50-meter sport shooting range adjacent to the tunnel ammunition range.

The process of obtaining a permit to operate the ammunition tunnel range took more than a year and involved, among other things, the approval of all the authorities concerned, an expert ballistics report and several on-site inspections of the range.

The decision to permit the operation of the tunnel shooting range for ammunition in Aero was issued by the Regional Police Directorate of the Central Bohemia Region, Weapons and Security Material Service Department, in accordance with the Firearms and Ammunition Act.