The Commonwealth Department of Defence proposes to establish two underwater training ranges (UTR) to facilitate ongoing training of Defence personnel in underwater demolition operations. The key activity during training is the detonation of small volumes (up to 5 kilograms) of explosives.
The location of the two proposed UTRs are in Western Australian State waters, currently used as military training exercise areas. One proposed UTR is adjacent to Campbell Barracks, approximately 10km west of Perth. The second UTR is adjacent to the Lancelin Defence Training Area, approximately 17 km north of Lancelin.
The Swanbourne development envelope is 1200 hectares (ha). The Lancelin development envelope is 4800 hectares. The footprint for each training exercise is 100m2. Each footprint is located over sand and physical impacts to adjacent reefs are not expected.
Each training exercise is proposed to last up to two days, with up to ten days of training per year at each location.
