Castlegate bunker

The Castlegate bunker is the codename of NATOs command and communications bunker which is hidden in the ground at approximately 2 km north-east of the little town of Linnich in Germany.

As this bunker had been developed and combined as a "NATO war commandpost" this means that it had to offer maximum protection to its crew in all kinds of peacetime and wartime conditions.

In case of war and crisis Castlegate is not only the NATO leaderships hide-out but it also "functions as a main signal relaypoint within NATO’s communications chain of command". The bunker has been built in a way that ensures its operational capacity for a long time in all conditions.

History

The first bunker development and building plans have been made during the cold war era in 1962.

Initially it had been planned that NATO staffcommand, in peacetime located in Mönchengladbach Rheindahlen W-Germany at the joint headquarters (JHQ), would be transferred to the Castlegate bunker.

Bunker building plans have been approved in 1969 and the actual bunker construction took place between 1984 -1992. Although the Castlegate bunker already has been operational from 1988 the infrastructure has not been completed until 1996 after installation and testing of all electronic and chemical filtering components.

Because of the end of the cold war and due to NATO’s budget cuts and restructurisation Castlegates initial mission became obsolete! NATO’s JHQ Rheindahlen was reorganized and its units were transferred to other locations so the Castlegate mission changed completely.

The actual status in 2007 is that NATO Joint Force Command Brunssum at Brunssum in the Netherlands will be transferred to the bunker in times of crisis and war.

Castlegate has been built in the shape of a dice and measures 53 m in length, 45 m in width and 28 m in height. Its interior has been divided into 6 stories and has been equipped with all necessary supplies to house a crew of more than 500 military at least during 2 months. In this way NATO’s leadership would be able to survive all possible nuclear attacks and even nervegas attacks.

The infrastructure and the building have completely been financed by means of NATO budgets and have been estimated at approximately 85 million Euros. A considerable percentage of the amount covered installation and operational testing of all electronical components and chemical filtering components.

Links

* [http://www.cuci.nl/~bergstr6/Rede_021104_Militaerstandorte_AC.html German website with Castlegate information]
* [http://www.act.nato.int/transformation/cde/newsarticlescde/multinatexpmnt3.htm NATO news]
* [http://www.jfcbs.nato.int/ Allied Force Command Brunssum]
* [http://www.fulda-gap.de/castle_gate.htm German website about Castlegate]