MOD Hebrides
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MOD Hebrides
MOD Hebrides is a Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence site in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, operated by Qinetiq, QinetiQ. It consists of a deep sea range for complex weapons trials and an inner range for ground-based air defence test and evaluation. It has also been known as the Hebrides Guided Weapon Range and the South Uist Missile Range. History In the north west of South Uist at (), a missile testing range was built in 1957–58 by the Ministry of Defence to launch the MGM-5 Corporal missile, Britain and America's first guided nuclear weapon. This development went ahead despite significant protests, some locals expressing concern that the Scottish Gaelic language would not survive the influx of English-speaking Army personnel to South Uist. Opposition to the construction of the range resulted in the novel ''Rockets Galore (novel), Rockets Galore'', by Sir Compton Mackenzie, which was made into the film ''Rockets Galore!''. Resistance to the building of ...
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Hirta
Hirta () is the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago, on the western edge of Scotland. The names (in Scottish Gaelic) and ''Hirta'' (historically in English) have also been applied to the entire archipelago. Now without a permanent resident population, the island had nearly all of St Kilda's population of about 180 residents in the late 17th century and 112 in 1851. It was abandoned in 1930 when the last 36 remaining inhabitants were evacuated to Lochaline on the mainland. The National Trust for Scotland owns the entire archipelago. It became one of Scotland's six World Heritage Sites in 1986 and is one of the few in the world to hold mixed status for both its natural and cultural qualities."World Heritage: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"
UNESCO. Retrieved ...
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Spy Ship
A spy ship or reconnaissance vessel is a dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence, usually by means of sophisticated electronic eavesdropping. In a wider sense, any ship intended to gather information could be considered a spy ship. Spy ships are usually controlled by a nation's government, due to the high costs and advanced equipment required. They tend to be parts of the nation's navy, though they may also be operated by secret services. Naval trawlers masquerade as civilian ships such as fishing trawlers, which could be reasonably expected to remain in a certain area for a long time. Ships which are used to infiltrate spies or special forces are sometimes also called "spy ships". History An early version of what would become known as a spy ship is the United States civilian cargo ship , which made frequent voyages to Japan, China and the Philippines with cargo and passengers during the 1920s and 1930s. Starting in 1933 as a station ship she was assigned to monitor ...
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M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System
The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS ) is a light multiple rocket launcher developed in the late 1990s for the United States Army and mounted on a standard U.S. Army Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) M1140 truck frame. The HIMARS carries one pod with either six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets or one ATACMS missile. It is based on the U.S. Army's FMTV five-ton truck, and is capable of launching all rockets in the Multiple Launch Rocket System Family of Munitions. HIMARS ammunition pods are interchangeable with the M270 MLRS. It has a single pod, as opposed to the standard two for the M270 and its variants. The launcher can be transported by C-17 Globemaster, C-5 Galaxy, and Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft. Video unavailable The FMTV truck that transports the HIMARS was initially produced by Armor Holdings Aerospace and Defense Group Tactical Vehicle Systems Division, the original equipment manufacturer of the FMTV. It was produced by ...
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Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, supersonic Stealth aircraft, stealth strike fighters. A multirole combat aircraft designed for both Air superiority fighter, air superiority and attack aircraft, strike missions, it also has electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Lockheed Martin is the prime F-35 contractor with principal partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. The aircraft has three main variants: the CTOL, conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35A, the STOVL, short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) F-35B, and the carrier-based, carrier variant (CV) Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery, catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR) F-35C. The aircraft descends from the Lockheed Martin X-35, which in 2001 beat the Boeing X-32 to win the Joint Strike Fighter program, Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program intended to replace the General Dynami ...
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Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, supersonic, 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 that conducts the majority of the project through a joint holding company, Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH. The NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency, representing the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, manages the project and is the prime customer. The aircraft's development effectively began in 1983 with the Future European Fighter Aircraft programme, a multinational collaboration among the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Previously, Germany, Italy and the UK had jointly developed and deployed the Panavia Tornado combat aircraft and desired to collaborate on a new project, with additional participating EU nations. Disagreements over design authority and operational requirements however, led France to leave the ...
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Exercise Formidable Shield
Exercise or workout is physical activity that enhances or maintains fitness and overall health. It is performed for various reasons, including weight loss or maintenance, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, prevent injuries, hone athletic skills, improve health, or simply for enjoyment. Many people choose to exercise outdoors where they can congregate in groups, socialize, and improve well-being as well as mental health. In terms of health benefits, usually, 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week is recommended for reducing the risk of health problems. At the same time, even doing a small amount of exercise is healthier than doing none. Only doing an hour and a quarter (11 minutes/day) of exercise could reduce the risk of early death, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer. Classification Physical exercises are generally grouped into three types, depending on the overall effect they have on the human body: ...
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Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone Warfare; 2024. e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-074203-9.H. Pan; M. Zahmatkesh; F. Rekabi-Bana; F. Arvin; J. HuT-STAR: Time-Optimal Swarm Trajectory Planning for Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2025. UAVs were originally developed through the twentieth century for military missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for humans, and by the twenty-first, they had become essential assets to most militaries. As control technologies improved and costs fell, their use expanded to many non-military applications. These include aerial photography, area coverage,F. Rekabi-Bana; Hu, J.; T. Krajník; Arvin, F.,Unified Robust Path Planning and Optimal Trajectory Generation for Efficient 3D Area Coverage of ...
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Rapier Missile
Rapier is a surface-to-air missile developed for the British Army to replace their towed Bofors 40/L70 anti-aircraft guns. The system is unusual as it uses a manual optical guidance system, sending guidance commands to the missile in flight over a radio link. This results in a high level of accuracy, therefore a large warhead is not required. Entering service in 1971, it eventually replaced all other anti-aircraft weapons in British Army service; both the Bofors guns used against low-altitude targets and the Thunderbird missile used against longer-range and higher-altitude targets. As the expected air threat moved from medium-altitude strategic missions to low-altitude strikes, the fast reaction time and high manoeuvrability of the Rapier made it more effective than either of these weapons, replacing most of them by 1977. Rapier was later selected by the RAF Regiment to replace their Bofors guns and Tigercat missiles. It also saw international sales. In October 2021, it was re ...
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Defence Evaluation And Research Agency
The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) was a part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) between 1995 and 2 July 2001. At the time it was the United Kingdom's largest science and technology organisation. It was regarded by its official history as 'a jewel in the crown' of both government and industry.Eds. Robert Bud and Philip Gummett, ''Cold War Hot Science: Applied Research in Britain's Defence Laboratories 1945-1990'', Harwood, 1999 Formation and operation DERA was formed in April 1995 as an amalgamation of: *Defence Research Agency (DRA) which was set up in April 1991 and comprised ** Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) **Admiralty Research Establishment (ARE) ** Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) **Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) *Defence Test and Evaluation Organisation (DTEO) * Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE at Porton Down), which became part of the Protection and Life Sciences Division (PLSD) * Ce ...
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Petrel (rocket)
The Petrel was a British sounding rocket. The Petrel 1 was launched, like the Skua (rocket), Skua 1, with 3 Chick (rocket), Chick booster rockets. The Chick motors were fitted into a booster carriage that also carried the two parachutes that brought it back to earth for re-use. The Petrel 1 was 3.34 m long, had a diameter of 19 cm and reached a maximum altitude of 140 kilometres. It was fired from a launch tube. The Petrel was first flown on 8 June 1967 in South Uist. Since 1968, some 234 Petrels were launched from sites in South Uist, Andøya Space, Andøya, Kiruna, Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, Thumba, Sonmiani Flight Test Range, Sonmiani and Greenland. Around 2/3 of the launches took place from South Uist. In 1977, an improved version, the Petrel 2, with a maximum altitude of 175 kilometres was used for the first time. The Petrel was also fired from Esrange, ESRANGE at Kiruna in Sweden in 1971, and from the range on Andøya, an island off the Norwegian coast ...
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Skua (rocket)
Skua is the designation of a British sounding rocket which was launched between 1959 and 1981 in four versions over 300 times. The Skua was developed by Bristol Aerojet and RPE Wescott. It consisted of a starting stage made up of several Chick rockets (like the Petrel) that burned for 0.2 seconds. They propelled the rocket 20 metres over the 5-metre-long launch tube. After that, the Bantam main stage ignited. The solid rocket motor of the main stage had an end-burning propellant grain and burned for 30 seconds. The starting stage descended on parachutes and was re-filled and re-used. The fastest jet stream velocity ever measured (656 km/h or 408 mph) was recorded by instruments on board a Skua rocket above South Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland at an altitude of 47,000 m (154,200 ft), on 13 December 1967. Versions There were four versions of the Skua rocket: See also * Sounding rocket * Petrel (rocket) *Arcas (rocket) Arcas (originally "All-Purpose R ...
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MGM-52 Lance
The MGM-52 Lance was a mobile field artillery tactical surface-to-surface missile (tactical ballistic missile) system used to provide both W70, nuclear and conventional fire support to the United States Army. The missile's warhead was developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It was replaced by MGM-140 ATACMS, which was initially intended to likewise have a nuclear capability during the Cold War. Deployment The first Lance missiles were deployed in 1972, replacing (together with the US-Navy's nuclear-tipped RIM-2D and RIM-8E/B/D) the earlier MGR-1 Honest John, Honest John rocket and MGM-29 Sergeant, Sergeant SRBM ballistic missile, greatly reducing the weight and bulk of the system, while improving both accuracy and mobility. A Lance battery (two fire units) consisted of two M113 armored personnel carrier variants, M752 launchers (one missile each) and two M688 auxiliary vehicles (two missiles each), for a total six missiles; the firing rate per unit was approximately ...
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