The Dunoon Observer of the 4th April 2008 reports that a military exercise will take place in and around Argyll over the next 2 weeks. This will involve fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and ground troops and will take place in the vicinity of Loch Fyne, Loch Long and the Garelochead training area. Out of hours flying has been authorised.
Exercises are also taking place in Knoydart,Kingussie, Granton on Spey,Ullapool,Dingwall and Cape Wrath.
So far on the Clyde we have had a few over flights and a great increase in Naval activity including one of the new class of destroyers and mine hunters exercising in the Firth.
I imagine so, unless that is, they have built another one which I am not aware of. It does appear to be carrying out trials and I did think the Daring had been handed over. Boy, they are ugly with the bridge incorporated into a tall tower surmounted bya radar golf ball. The funnel, which is painted black is very tall and looks like a stove pipe and then there is another tower aft with a big dadar array on it. To think that I thought the last HMS Daring was ugly in the 1950s. Mind you they tidied up the funnels on the later ships.
As to other ships, the view from the crows nest has included several mine hunters and a large RFA came in a day or two ago. Quiite a bit of sub activity too.
Appearance is progress. Some day the ships with all the bits sticking out all over the place will be considered pretty ugly.
Ships like Daring are now 'stealthy', and the Falklands tells us that anything that makes life harder for an approaching Exocet has to be a good thing, regardless of what it looks like.
I have to say, that for myself, I find the new designs quite pleasing, when taken in the context of their purpose, rather than as cruise ships or for pleasure trips
To me, it looks better than a number of recent arrivals (both civilian, and non-combat Auxiliary support vessels) that seem to share the same box of CAD software, and have superstructures that are dead flat at the front, and seem to lack any attempt at styling or imagination, and more to demands to enclose the maximum useable volume within.
One of them was observed from the crow's nest the other day. Inward bound. Ugly but do their job I suppose. At least it looks as if it has a chance of floating on it's own. The Daring looks like the RN equivalent of the eurofighter which cannot fly without the computer. The Daring looks as if she would overturn if anyone touched the big red switch.
I am still trying to reconcile the picture with my knowlege of Loch Striven. Is it a plane? I cannot be sure.
Yesterday's view from the Crow's Nest included a Hercules flying up the Firth at about 100ft and then climbing and carrying out various manoevres between Dunoon and Gourock. This is the only really low flight we have had for quite a while.
Alright, I admit it, I stole this from another site, but with the exercise on, and the police virtually a permanent feature on the Clyde coastal routes in the hope of catching drivers frustrated by tourists dawdling along and gaping at the scenery, you have to think this could be a 'Wildest Dream'...
Two California Highway Patrol Officers were conducting speeding enforcement on I-15, just north of the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar. One of the officers was using a hand held radar device to check speeding vehicles approaching the crest of a hill.
The officers were suddenly surprised when the radar gun began reading 300 miles per hour. The officer attempted to reset the radar gun, but it would not reset and then turned off.
Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact locked on to a USMC F/A-18 Hornet which was engaged in a low flying exercise near the location.
Back at the CHIPs Headquarters the Patrol Captain fired off a complaint to the USMC Base Commander.
The reply came back in true USMC style:
Thank you for your letter. We can now complete the file on this incident.
You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Hornet had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked on to, your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it, which is why it shut down. Furthermore, an Air-to-Ground missile aboard the fully armed aircraft had also automatically locked on to your equipment location.
Fortunately, the Marine Pilot flying the Hornet recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile system alert status and was able to override the automated defense system before the missile was launched to destroy the hostile radar position.
The pilot also suggests you cover your mouths when cussing at them, since the video systems on these jets are very high tech. Sergeant Johnson, the officer holding the radar gun, should get his dentist to check his left rear molar. It appears the filling is loose. Also, the snap is broken on his holster.
Thank you for your concern. Semper Fi.
Of course, in this country, the pilot would have been issued with a fixed penalty notice as soon as he landed, for using, or permitting within a vehicle under his control, the use of a device which interfered with the police speed measuring equipment
These stories may be apochraphyl but there was one circulating a few years ago about UK police putting the gun on a Triumph Herald and getting as massive result. Turned out there was a harrier manoevring nearby.
Interesting view from the crows nest yesterday. Most of the morning there were ships sailing out very slowly must have been at least 18 and not all ours. Included a couple of our frigates F218 and F330 which at least looked like warships.
In the afternoon a small sub went out, dont think it was one of ours. The strange thing was it was towing some kind of underwater device on thick cable mounted on top of the upper rudder fin. No idea what it was for.
I haven't read anything specific, but a lot of listening and detection equipment is now so sensitive that having it attached to the host vehicle means that any 'signals of interest' would be masked by the close mechanical coupling to the host, so are towed to provide a degree of isolation.
During the war, secret devices were also attached to the rear decks of submarines to disguise them as 'rescue equipment' when they were visible as the subs left ports where they could not stay out of sight.
Couple of Hercules shots - interesting paint scheme:-
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