Qualla: Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges

Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges: Introduction

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Canadian Heraldic Authority / Canadian Armed Forces Directorate of History and Heritage, Public domain. Torpedoes do not explode at Nanoose Bay. They never have. The Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges, known as CFMETR, tests weapons and detection systems in the Strait of Georgia without ever detonating anything. What makes this stretch of water valuable is not firepower but geography: a seabed several hundred metres deep, composed of soft mud, free of underwater obstacles, running several dozen kilometres long and several kilometres wide. It is, in effect, a natural laboratory for tracking anything that moves through water.

Image: Canadian Heraldic Authority / Canadian Armed Forces Directorate of History and Heritage | Public domain

Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges: The Deep Range

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit KenWalker kgw@lunar.ca, CC BY-SA 3.0. The testing area, designated Area WG, occupies a deep channel in the Strait of Georgia off the east coast of Vancouver Island. CFMETR operates a three-dimensional sonar tracking system capable of monitoring the real-time position and performance of objects moving through the wate...

Image: KenWalker kgw@lunar.ca | CC BY-SA 3.0

Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges: Two Flags on One Base

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit KenWalker kgw@lunar.ca, CC BY-SA 3.0. CFMETR holds a distinction unique within the Canadian Forces: it is jointly staffed by personnel from two nations. Active military from the Royal Canadian Navy work alongside Department of National Defence civilian employees and a small number of United States Navy civilian emplo...

Image: KenWalker kgw@lunar.ca | CC BY-SA 3.0

Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges: A Salmon War's Unlikely Target

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Qyd assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain. In the late 1990s, CFMETR found itself at the center of an unexpected political storm. During the Pacific salmon dispute between Canada and the United States, British Columbia Premier Glen Clark threatened to cancel the American lease at Nanoose Bay as leverage in the fishing neg...

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Qyd assumed (based on copyright claims). | Public domain

Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges: Hidden in Plain Sight

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit KenWalker kgw@lunar.ca, CC BY-SA 3.0. From shore, CFMETR looks unremarkable: a cluster of docks and buildings at the edge of Nanoose Bay, with Canadian Maritime Command vessels and the occasional U.S. Navy yard tug tied up alongside. The real work happens underwater and out of sight, tracked by sonar arrays that map ...

Image: KenWalker kgw@lunar.ca | CC BY-SA 3.0