Castlemartin Training Area

Castlemartin Training Area
Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire

Western Walls
Castlemartin Training Area
Location within Pembrokeshire
Coordinates 51°37′51″N 4°58′47″W / 51.630895°N 4.979633°W / 51.630895; -4.979633
Type Training Area
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator  British Army
Controlled by Defence Infrastructure Organisation[1]
Site history
Built 1939
Built for War Office
In use 1939-Present

The Castlemartin Training Area is located at Castlemartin in Pembrokeshire and covers 2,390 hectares (5,900 acres)[2] of land in South Western Wales. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and is located within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

The ranges are active for 44 weeks of the year[3] and when in use can include a coastal exclusion zone of some 12 nautical miles (22 km) off the coast, or as little as 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) depending on weapons systems/munitions being used.[3][4]

History

Castlemartin shield

The Castlemartin Training Area was established in 1939.[5] In 1962 there was a shortage of suitable tank training areas in Northern part of Germany for the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), an agreement was made whereby armoured training for German recruits was undertaken in the UK so the Bergen-Hohne Training Area could be freed for use by the British Army. This carried on until the 1990s when additional ranges in Eastern Germany became available on reunification.

The Ranges today

In 1999 the Defence Training Estate was formed and units from all over the UK and NATO have trained on the ranges.[1]

Within the Pembrokeshire Estate there are:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 DTE Pembrokeshire (Website accessed: 02/09/10) Archived October 31, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. DTE Pembrokeshire ranges (Website accessed: 02/09/10)
  3. 1 2 Milford Haven Port Authority (Website accessed: 02/09/10)
  4. Castlemartin Ranges - Home
  5. "Castlemartin Pembrokeshire" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 11 January 2015.

External links

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