Kapani Tonneo

In December 1975 Otrag signed an agreement with the Congolese government to established a rocket range to test its low-cost rockets deep in the interior at Shaba (Katanga) province. The austere site included logistic support via antique British Argosy transports landing at a dirt strip on a plateau overlooking the jungle. Here a pad and gantry were erected and flight tests began in 1977. However Otrag's activities made the great powers nervous. The USSR was not interested in Germany achieving an indigenous long-range rocket activity. The government of the Congo was pressured by the USSR to withdraw permission to use the site. Otrag was thrown out of the country in April 1979.