Activity on the Plain (From Salisbury Journal)

Activity on the Plain

3:06pm Wednesday 30th January 2013 in News By David Falcke

q FEBRUARY will see a high rate of activity on the Plain throughout the month.

Preparation for the 1 Mechanised Brigade Afghanistan predeployment exercise will continue during the first week of February, with communications and logistic assets working on the training area.

There will be major armoured manoeuvre and artillery live firing exercises across the whole Plain during the first week, as well as an armoured and armoured infantry exercise.

At the same time, two of the main Royal School of Artillery courses will be live firing with AS 90 and light guns. Civilian contractors will be putting up compound structures across the Plain at sites which the public are asked to stay well away from.

The main body of troops and vehicles arrive on February 9 and 10 and depart on March 3 and 4, with slow moving convoys heading to and from the Tidworth area.

The exercise, which starts on February 12 and finishes on March 3, will take place across the entire length of the Plain and involve some 9,000 troops and support personnel, more than 550 tracked and wheeled armoured vehicles, and both fixed and rotary wing aircraft.

For the period of the exercise there will be no public access to the Larkhill artillery ranges, and permissive stone tracks in the Tilshead/Chitterne/ Shrewton triangle (Copehill Down area) will be closed in the interest of public safety.