The Luxeuil air base in Haute-Saône is preparing to welcome nuclear weapons and 50 bursts

“To date, we have just over a thousand people on the basis and we implement around twenty mirage-5 dedicated to the air defense,” says Colonel Roux, commander of the BA 116. For the moment, we are focused on this primary mission. We have 7 days a week 7 and 24 hours a day with pilots and mechanics who sleep next to their planes and who are ready to take off to intercept all types of aircraft. Most of the time, these are prohibited overflights, planes with radio problems or that are lost and that must be reoriented. But we also face threats, machines that approach a little too close to our borders and that we must kindly be accompanied. »»