|
| |
59. Beith, Ayshire. (NS 351 524)
A tomahawk missile being fired from a Royal Navy submarine
Royal Navy cruise missile just before and after it hits a
target during trials in 1999.
Defence Munitions depot, which is part of the Defence Storage and
Distribution Agency (DSDA). Established as a munitions depot in
1943, the depot covers an area of over 1,000 acres, has 21 miles
of internal roads and 6.5 miles of perimeter fence. With a workforce
of 500 civilians the main work of the depot is to store, produce,
test, and issue a range of missiles and torpedoes for all three
branches of the armed forces.
With a much larger workforce than the other Scottish Defence Munitions
Centres at Glen Douglas[76] and Crombie[96], Beith acts as the main
armaments distribution, administration and maintenance centre in
Scotland with an emphasis on 'sophisticated' weapon production.
Sixty per cent of the work carried out at Beith comes from commercial
contracts to assemble and maintain weapons from armaments companies
such as BAe and MBDA. In other words, a situation where the government
pays arms companies to build and maintain weapons who then sub-contract
the government's own arms depots to do most of the work! (MBDA is
a missile systems company owned jointly by BAe Systems, EADS and
Finmeccanica; EADS, the second largest aerospace and defence company
in the world, had revenues of £20.8 billion in 2003; Finmeccanica,
an Italian defence aerospace company had profits of £146 million
in 2001.)
The depot has the capacity to store up to 18,000 cubic metres of
high explosives and the buildings at the depot are specially designed
to implode should there be an accident. An explosion inside a building
would result in the roof being blown off and the walls collapsing
inwards.
Amongst the munitions developed and produced at Beith are the Tomahawk,
Storm Shadow and Brimstone missiles and Spearfish torpedoes.
Tomahawk cruise missiles are designed to fly at extremely low altitudes
at high subsonic speeds, and are piloted over an evasive route by
several mission tailored guidance systems. They have a range of
1,700 km and carry a conventional warhead. The Tomahawk Land Attack
Missile (cruise missile) is now one of the key weapon systems for
Royal Navy Fleet Submarines and the UK is the only country to have
Tomahawk outside of the United States. The missile is launched underwater
from a torpedo tube, allowing the submarine to remain undetected.
Flying low-level at high subsonic speeds, with a low radar signature,
the missile navigates to its target using the satellite Global Positioning
System and the Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation system.
The first operational use of sea-launched Cruise missiles by the
US was in Operation Desert Storm, 1991. In 1995 the United States
and United Kingdom governments signed a Foreign Military Sales Agreement
for the UK to buy 65 missiles at cost of £180 million, marking
the only sale of Tomahawk to a foreign country. After a November
1998 launch and live warhead test, the U.K. declared operational
capability and in 1999, 30 more missiles were sold to the UK, at
an additional cost of £56 million, to replace those fired
at Kosovo by the Swiftsure submarine, HMS Splendid, the first RN
submarine to be fitted with the missiles. MoD reports suggest that
17 out of the 20 cruise missiles fired by Splendid (out of a total
of 238 fired during the war) were accurate.
On her return to Faslane[74] in 1999 Splendid flew the Jolly Roger
(skull and crossbones) flag, supposedly a symbol of a successful
war patrol. Her commanding officer later received an OBE.
By 2003, the RN aimed to have five Tomahawk capable boats fully
operational at any one time. Two Faslane[74] based, Swiftsure class,
submarines were modified for cruise missiles, HMS Splendid and HMS
Spartan. In 1998 the Strategic Defence Review announced that seven
Trafalgar Class and two Swiftsure Class submarines will be made
cruise missile capable by 2006, with HMS Triumph, HMS Trafalgar,
HMS Spartan and HMS Torbay fitted out by the end of 2001. The total
cost of the cruise missile programme is believed to be £300
million.
In 2002, Splendid fired cruise missiles at Afghanistan along with
Trafalgar class submarines, HMS Trafalgar and HMS Triumph.
In 2003 Splendid was also in the Gulf firing cruise missiles at
Iraq along with HMS Turbulent. In July 2003 Splendid returned to
Faslane[74], again flying the Jolly Roger, and was decommissioned
the following month.
Jolly
Roger being flown from HMS Splendid on its return from firing
cruise missiles at Iraq
Turbulent, based in Plymouth, fired a total of 30 missiles
during the war on Iraq at an estimated £700,000 a shot.
Faslane[74] submarine HMS Spartan was also fitted to take cruise
missiles during its refit at Rosyth dockyard[103] in 1999 but
is due for decommissioning in 2006. Both Trafalgar and Swiftsure
submarines are due to be replaced with Astute nuclear powered
submarines which are also expected to carry cruise missiles
and Beith will continue to maintain cruise missile supplies
for submarines based at Faslane[74] for the continuing future.
Beith is also sub-contracted by BAe Systems to produce Spearfish
torpedoes. Spearfish torpedoes are a heavyweight torpedo fired
from submarines against surface vessels and other submarines.
The torpedoes are tested at BUTEC ranges based at the Kyle of
Lochalsh[24] and at the AUTEC ranges (the US Navy's Atlantic
Undersea Test and Evaluation Center) in the Bahamas and teams
from Beith assist in the test firings. Spearfish torpedoes are
a particular problem on British submarines because of the large
explosive power in the warheads and the toxic and explosive
hazards of the Otto fuel that propels them. Whilst early experiments
with the fuel were being carried out two workers at another
munitions depot in England were killed. The torpedoes are carried
by both the Trident and the hunter-killer submarines based at
Faslane[74] and there is considerable road transport between
Faslane[74] and Beith.
An
RAF Storm Shadow missile is
unpacked in preparation for use on the first night of the Iraq
war 2003
The Storm Shadow missile made its operational debut during the
Iraq war of 2003, as the main component of the weapons arsenal
of the Tornado GR4s based at RAF Lossiemouth[53] . Storm Shadow,
developed by Matra BAe Dynamics, has two warheads, one to make
an initial impact and another to create a blast. During the
Iraq conflict, Storm Shadow was nicknamed a 'bunker buster'
as it was deployed against heavily fortified bunkers and command
centres. It can be launched by a bomber from any location up
to up to 155 miles (250km) from the actual target. Technicians
on the ground programme the missile with the target co-ordinates
and locations of air defences in preparation for a sortie. When
the pilot nears the target, but is still a substantial distance
away, the missile is released.
At Beith adding explosives, testing and preparing one Storm
Shadow missile for transport to RAF Lossiemouth[53] and other
RAF bases, for the Tornado warplanes based there, takes two
and a half days.
The RAF is believed to have purchased an initial batch of 500
Storm Shadow missiles. The programme cost is some £980m.
27 Storm Shadow Missiles were used in Iraq by the 'Dambuster'
617 Squadron based at Lossiemouth[53].
The Brimstone missile is the latest anti-armour missile for
Britain's attack aircraft like the Tornado, Harrier and Eurofighter.
It is based on the US Hellfire missile and was first tested
in 1999 in Arizona. They are produced at a rate of six a day
in a new purpose-built assembly building at the armaments depot.
|