CFB Suffield Canadian Forces Base Suffield ( also CFB Suffield ) is the largest Canadian Forces Base and the largest Commonwealth military training base in the world . It is located in southeastern Alberta , north - northwest of Suffield , north of the city of Medicine Hat and southeast of Calgary . The base has its own radio station , CKBF - FM , which airs programming for both the Canadian and British military personnel stationed at the base . History . On August 25 , 1971 , the Canadian Government ratified a ten - year agreement with the British Government that allowed the British Armed Forces to use the northern three - quarters of the Suffield Block . On December 1 , 1971 , Canadian Forces Base Suffield ( CFB Suffield ) was officially created and allocated to Mobile Command . Over 160 staff members , 90 buildings , 80 vehicles , and the Crown Village of Ralston were transferred from Defence Research Establishment Suffield to the newly created base and CFB Suffield was co - located with the Research Establishment . By January 1972 , the British Army Training Unit Suffield ( BATUS ) was established and the first live round was fired by a battlegroup from the 4th Royal Tank Regiment ( 4th RTR ) on July 15 , 1972 . In 1996 / 1997 , CFB Suffield had two recognized federal heritage buildings on the Register of the Government of Canada Heritage Buildings : Central Laboratory , Building B - 1 and Ralston School Recognized . Chemical warfare training . The lands comprising modern - day CFB Suffield were known as the " Suffield Block " , resulting from the Dominion Land Survey , and comprised marginal agricultural land , given the perpetual semi - arid climate . Some settlement was attempted , but during the droughts of the 1920s most farms were abandoned , along with some horses , whose feral descendants now roam the region . The total area measures approximately and borders an area north of the South Saskatchewan River . Following the fall of Algeria to Nazi Germany , the British Army required a new training facility for carrying out experiments in chemical warfare . In 1941 , the federal government expropriated the Suffield Block , purchasing the majority of the land from the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson ' s Bay Company ; 452 residents were displaced . Experimental Station Suffield commenced operations on June 11 , 1941 . British forces left the joint operation of Suffield to the Canadian Army in 1946 . In 1947 the Canadian Army turned operation of Experimental Station Suffield over to the Defence Research Board , now Defence Research and Development Canada . In 1950 the facility was renamed Suffield Experimental Station , and in 1967 it was renamed to Defence Research Establishment Suffield ( DRES ) . Throughout the period from 1947 to 1971 , the Canadian Army continued occasional use of the Suffield ranges . Armoured unit training . In 1971 an agreement was signed between the British and Canadian governments permitting the British Army to use over three - quarters of the Suffield Block for armoured , infantry , and artillery live - fire training . DRES was renamed Canadian Forces Base Suffield ( CFB Suffield ) , and new base housing and support facilities were constructed for the British Army and Canadian Forces personnel , including refurbishing the community at Ralston . DRES continued until 2000 when it was merged into a new organization Defence Research and Development Canada ( DRDC ) . British Army training has continued at Suffield since 1971 , with the shared - use agreement being extended several times ( made indefinite in 2006 ) . Regular and reserve units of Canadian Army began to make use of the base beginning in 1991 , around the same time as the downgrading of CFB Wainwright . The British Army Training Unit Suffield ( BATUS ) consists of pool training equipment used by army units rotating through the base on exercises , as well as a training " opposition force " ( OPFOR ) . Defence R & D Canada – Suffield . Defence Research and Development Canada ( DRDC ) is an agency of the Canadian Department of National Defence responding to the scientific and technological needs of the Canadian Forces . Its mission is to ensure that the CF remains scientifically and operationally relevant . The agency is made up of eight research laboratories , one of which being DRDC Suffield . DRDC Suffield is the lead laboratory for Chemical and Biological Defence research , as well as in areas generally related to military engineering , mobility systems , and weapons system evaluation . Wildlife refuge . The decision to designate the Suffield Block a military training facility in 1941 left tens of square kilometres of undisturbed prairie grassland intact from the effects of industrial agriculture . In 1992 , the military signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Environment Canada and in 2003 lands along the South Saskatchewan River comprising some were designated as the Suffield National Wildlife Area .