Soldiers Load a Rapier Missile System During London Olympics Security Exercise

The security preparations for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

—with the exception of the air counter-terrorist plan, which was a

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

responsibility—was led by the police, with 13,000 officers available, supported by 17,000 members of the armed forces.

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and RAF assets, including ships situated in the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, Typhoon jets, radar, helicopter-borne snipers, and surface-to-air missiles, were deployed as part of the security operation which was named Operation Olympics by the Ministry of Defence. The final cost of the security operation was estimated £553m (pounds sterling). The budget for venue security was being partly funded by the

London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) was the organisation responsible for overseeing the planning and development of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was jointly established by the UK Gov ...

(LOCOG) as well as using the contingency from the £9.3 billion infrastructure budget. Private security firm G4S, enduring scandals regarding training and manpower that emerged mere weeks before the games, provided only about 10,000 staff, instead of their intended 13,700. This was the biggest security operation Britain had faced for decades, with 40,000 security personnel. On 7 July 2005, the day after the city was selected to host the Olympics, the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

and a

London bus Buses have been used as a mode of public transport in London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating a horse-drawn ''omnibus'' service from Paddington to the City of London. In the decades since their introduction, the red London ...

had been attacked by terrorist group

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

Air defences

The air security plan was a multi-layered construct intended to defeat the full range of potential air threats to the Games, from

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ai ...

s, through

light aircraft A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Light aircraft are used as utility aircraft co ...

and micro-lights to drones. It involved the classification of airspace over London, requiring specific advanced permission to enter. Command and Control of air counter-terrorism is the responsibility of the Chief of the Air Staff and was exercised for the Olympics on his behalf by Air Officer Commanding 1 Group RAF, Air Vice-Marshal

Stuart Atha Air Marshal Sir Stuart David Atha, (born 30 April 1962) is a former senior officer of the Royal Air Force. He led No. 3 (Fighter) Squadron from 2000 to 2004, which included deployment to Iraq on Operation Telic, commanded RAF Coningsby (2006� ...

, the Olympics Air Component Commander. The air security plan was a modification of the existing air counter-terrorism measures for the whole UK that were continuously applied by the

. At the core of the air security plan was the basing of RAF

Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...

fighters at

RAF Northolt ("Ready to carry or to fight") , pushpin_map = Greater London , pushpin_label = RAF Northolt , pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London , coordinates = , type = Royal Air Force station , code = , site_area = , height = , owner ...

in West London. These were held at extremely high readiness to allow a rapid reaction to any potential threat, and were in addition to the Typhoons that maintain

Quick Reaction Alert Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) is state of readiness and '' modus operandi'' of air defence maintained at all hours of the day by NATO air forces. The United States usually refers to Quick Reaction Alert as 'Airspace Control Alert'. Some non-NATO ...

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and ho ...

and

RAF Leuchars Royal Air Force Leuchars or RAF Leuchars was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. Throughout the Cold War and beyond, the station was home to fighter aircraft which policed northern UK airspa ...

(now

RAF Lossiemouth Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the R ...

). The next layer of defences comprised

RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such ta ...

snipers, who would operate against small, slow air targets. They would be carried by RAF Puma helicopters (temporarily based at Ilford Territorial Army Centre) and

and

Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, ...

helicopters embarked on HMS Ocean, which was alongside at

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

). There were six sites, four using

Rapier A rapier () or is a type of sword with a slender and sharply-pointed two-edged blade that was popular in Western Europe, both for civilian use (dueling and self-defense) and as a military side arm, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Impo ...

and two using

Starstreak Starstreak is a British short-range surface to air missile that can be used as a man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS) or in heavier systems, manufactured by Thales Air Defence (formerly Shorts Missile Systems), in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ...

Fire units. After initially announcing the possibility of installing missiles the British government confirmed they would be deployed from mid July. Airspace management and early warning of a threat was provided using existing air traffic control and air defence radar, supplemented by mobile radar, including Type 101 ground-based radar from the RAF's 1 Air Control Centre, deployed to

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. In addition, RAF E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System ( AWACS) aircraft from RAF Waddington and Royal Navy Sea King Air Surveillance and Control System ( ASACS), temporarily based at RAF Northolt, provided further early warning cover. A further layer of visual warning was provided by Royal Artillery observers at 28 locations around London, equipped with alerting devices and binoculars. Rapier missiles are

surface-to-air missiles A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft sys ...

designed to shoot down aeroplanes. It is a short-range air defence system, consisting of eight missiles with a tracking radar and a surveillance radar. There were four Rapier sites, two in north London and two in south London. The Rapier sites were: *

Blackheath Common Blackheath Common is an area of of heathland in Surrey, England, near the village of Albury in the borough of Waverley. It is part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and much of the common is a designated Site of Special ...

*Oxleas Wood,

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards o ...

*William Girling Reservoir,

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

*Barn Hill, Netherstone Farm, near

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...

In addition two sites were selected for

missiles. They were at the top of tall buildings closer to the Olympic Stadium. One of the sites was the water tower of a factory converted into upmarket flats in Bow. The other was a 15-storey block of council flats in

Leytonstone Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, ...

. The residents of the latter took the government to court to protest against the siting of the missile battery, a case they lost on 10 July 2012. The Starstreak sites were: *Lexington Building,

Bow Quarter Bow Quarter is a gated community in Bow, London, Bow in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The building was originally the Bryant and May match factory, and was the site of the London matchgirls strike of 1888, Match Girls' strike in the 1880s. ...

in LB Tower Hamlets *Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone, LB Waltham Forest The defences were tested in a large training exercise during 2–10 May 2012, known as ''Exercise Olympic Guardian'', which preceded the operational phase of the campaign. The exercise involved

Boeing E-3 Sentry The Boeing E-3 Sentry is an American airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft developed by Boeing. E-3s are commonly known as AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System). Derived from the Boeing 707 airliner, it provides all-weath ...

from RAF Waddington, VC-10 tanker aircraft from

RAF Brize Norton Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney. The statio ...

and

Typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

fast jets from 3(F) Sqn operating from RAF Northolt, the first time fighter aircraft had been stationed at the West London base since the Second World War. From 14 July 2012, Royal Air Force, Army and Navy assets and personnel began enforcing a 30-mile exclusion zone over London and other areas.

Deployed assets

The following assets were deployed for air security: * 3 x

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engi ...

helicopters *

Westland Puma Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila ...

helicopters, forward-based at the Territorial Army (now Army Reserve) centre in Ilford,

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the ...

Westland Lynx The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose twin-engined military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led t ...

helicopters operating from helicopter carrier * Sentry AEW1

airborne early warning and control Airborne or Airborn may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis * ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film * ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...

(AWACS) aircraft based at RAF Waddington in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

* 4 x Typhoon FGR4 multirole fighters forward-based at

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

surface-to-air missile systems *

surface-to-air missile systems

Maritime defences

The Royal Navy and

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry and also one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighti ...

were equipped with the

Long Range Acoustic Device A long-range acoustic device (LRAD) is an acoustic hailing device (AHD), sound cannon and sonic weapon developed by Genasys. It has been used as a method of crowd control, which has caused permanent hearing damage, having an extremely high ...

(LRAD), which uses directional sound as an

anti-personnel weapon An anti-personnel weapon is a weapon primarily used to maim or kill infantry and other personnel not behind armor, as opposed to attacking structures or vehicles, or hunting game. The development of defensive fortification and combat vehicles ga ...

. It was attached to a landing craft on the Thames at Westminster, and was to be used primarily in loud-hailer mode as a so-called

acoustic hailing device An acoustic hailing device (AHD) is a specialized loudspeaker that produces sound at high power for communicating at a distance. AHDs vary in design, output, and usability. Overview Acoustic hailing devices are acoustic devices capable of ou ...

, rather than as a weapon. Royal Marines operated from HMS Ocean in small craft armed with conventional weapons.

Deployed assets

The following assets were deployed: *

Helicopter carrier A helicopter carrier is a type of aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters, and has a large flight deck that occupies a substantial part of the deck, which can extend the full length of the ship like of the Royal Navy ...

based in the Thames * stationed off the

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

coast * based in Weymouth Bay * Patrol boats *

Rigid Raider The Rigid Raider (RRC) is a series of fast raiding and assault craft made by RTK Marine, a subsidiary of Halmatic, part of BAE Systems Surface Ships. They are primarily in service with two branches of the British Armed Forces: The Royal Navy (in ...

IT Security

BT was responsible for the IT infrastructure for the Olympics, and for securing the network perimeter against electronic attacks. The company had been warned to expect a high intensity of complex and determined attacks, but instead found that the attacks were "unsophisticated and perpetrated by children". When monitoring social media and chat sites for information on which targets might be attacked next, BT staff observed one would-be hacker breaking off a planning session because their mother was calling them to eat their tea, and another defending their technical performance by saying "what do you expect, I’m only 12?". The other main IT security obstacle encountered was the requirement to allow over 25,000 journalists access to network services; many of their computers were infected with

viruses A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's ...

or other

malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depr ...

. BT contacted a number of

spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ...

blacklisting companies to explain the resulting increase in spam from its network.

Preparation concerns

After it emerged in July 2012 that G4S, the company in charge of providing security, was unable to train enough security staff, an additional 3,500 sailors, soldiers and airmen were assigned to security duties at the Olympics. Lord Coe, chairman of LOCOG, said that the security of the Olympics had not been compromised as a result.

Incidents

A few months before the games opened,

Michael Shrimpton Michael Shrimpton (born 9 March 1957) is an English former barrister and judge who is known for his conspiracy theories and hoaxes. He was convicted in 2014 for falsely reporting that Germany was planning a nuclear attack on the 2012 Summer Oly ...

, a former immigration judge, contacted authorities to warn of an impending attack against the Games. According to Shrimpton, a German intelligence agency had stolen a nuclear warhead from a sunken Russian submarine and planted it in London. The agency was supposedly planning to detonate the warhead during the Games' opening ceremony. Shrimpton's report was treated seriously by police and, when it was found to be a hoax, he was arrested, tried, and convicted on two counts of communicating false information with intent. He was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment.

References

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The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

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The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

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Bucks Herald ''The Bucks Herald'' is a weekly newspaper, published every Wednesday and covering Aylesbury and its surrounding villages in the Aylesbury Vale area of Buckinghamshire, England. It was first published on 7 January 1832. History At its launch t ...

, date=2015-02-06 , access-date=2016-06-22 {{cite news , author= , newspaper=

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

, title=Barrister jailed for Nazi Olympics bomb hoax call , url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/barrister-jailed-for-nazi-olympics-bomb-hoax-call-1-3682715 , date=2015-02-06 , access-date=2016-09-19 {{cite news , author= , title=Barrister sparked security scare by 'claiming Nazis wanted to blow up the Queen at the 2012 Olympics' , url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11221239/Barrister-sparked-security-scare-by-claiming-Nazis-wanted-to-blow-up-the-Queen-at-the-2012-Olympics.html , newspaper=

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

, date=2014-11-10 , access-date=2016-09-19 {{cite news , date=2015-02-06 , author-last=Colley , author-first=Andrew , newspaper= Bucks Free Press , url=http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/11777567.Hoax_caller_jailed_after_claiming_bomb_would_detonate_during_opening_ceremony_of_London_2012/ , title=Barrister Michael Shrimpton, from Wendover, made claims in the build up to London Olympic Games , access-date=2016-09-24 2012 Summer Olympics Military operations involving the United Kingdom Royal Navy 21st-century Royal Air Force deployments British Army deployments Defence of London Security