Photo: CTBTO
Namibia is set to make history this October as the first African country to host a major Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Integrated Field Exercise.
The IFE26 will be conducted across Swakopmund and parts of the Erongo Region from 5 October to 20 November 2026, bringing international experts to Namibia to simulate an on-site inspection following a suspected nuclear test. The exercise is designed to test the world’s ability to detect and investigate a clandestine nuclear explosion. It will use a fictional scenario and artificially generated data, with no nuclear material, radiation, explosives or real explosions involved.
Operations will cover a vast area stretching from the Khan River and Khan Mine through to the Rössing Mine and Valencia project. The CTBTO is expected to bring together approximately 80 high-level representatives, including ambassadors, diplomats, senior government officials and technical experts from countries that have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. A high-level international delegation is expected in Erongo towards the end of October to observe field activities and visit locations where inspection teams will demonstrate techniques used to gather and analyse evidence.
The exercise is significant because an on-site inspection is intended to be the CTBT’s final verification tool once the treaty enters into force. The treaty prohibits all nuclear weapon test explosions but has not yet entered into force because nine of the 44 countries listed in its Annex 2 still need to ratify it. The CTBTO currently has 188 signatories and 179 ratifications. Namibia signed the treaty in 1996 and ratified it in 2001. The country also hosts two certified CTBTO International Monitoring System facilities near Tsumeb, an auxiliary seismic station and an infrasound station. The Erongo landscape provides the CTBTO with a diverse environment for the exercise, including desert terrain, rocky formations, dry riverbeds and areas with naturally occurring uranium-rich soil.
An interministerial committee has already visited Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Arandis to brief communities and engage students about the exercise and potential careers in the nuclear-monitoring field. For Erongo, IFE26 will place Namibia at the centre of a major international effort to strengthen the global system designed to ensure that no nuclear test goes undetected.
By Rudi Bowe
