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"Testing Trade Tools" – Where Britain tests its tools of the war trade
Once all of the various agencies of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) have developed their latest tools of the war trade, you would expect them to be thoroughly tested before entering into service. Naturally, you would also expect these tests to be carried out at top secret locations, well away from inquisitive eyes.
The Royal Air Force has the ultra secretive airbase, Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, where all its new toys are put through their paces. Especially, "next generation" stealth fighter jets have their radar avoidance measures, avionics and weapons systems evaluated here.
The Royal Navy, of course, has the open seas and the hidden depths of the oceans to test its warships and submarines.
You may well be surprised to learn that up until recently, much of the MoD's land-based equipment has been developed and tested alongside one of the UK's busiest motorways, which takes commuters living in the capital's affluent stockbroker belt into the City of London.
Amazingly, the test facility is on land within a National Park, which is also classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Even more bizarrely, right next door, famous faces off the TV screen relax with their showbiz chums on two of the country's most famous celebrity golf courses.
Consider the wealthy town of Chertsey in Surrey, to the south west of London. In particular, concentrate on the section of the M3 motorway just west of the town, which runs alongside Sunningdale and Wentworth Golf Clubs. You'll notice a sprawling major development (map below), both north and south of the carriageways.
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This 300 acre site, within the Chobham Common National Park, is an old Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) base that has actually been under MoD control since World War II.
In 2001, When DERA was split into the MoD-controlled Government research wing, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory network (DSTL) and the private commercial sector wing QinetiQ, the site came under the latter's control. It has been known variously as DSTL Chertsey and MoD Longcross, after the adjacent village.
For over 60 years, this massive site has been used to test and evaluate world famous tanks such as the Challenger, Chieftain and Scorpion. Over the decades since WWII, it was designated as the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (FVRDE), the Military Vehicles Engineering Establishment (MVEE) and a branch of the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE), before finally being incorporated into DERA.
In more recent years, under QinetiQ, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs - the land-based equivalent of the RAF's UAVs) have been developed here, as well as robot mine sweepers. Military vehicles have also been subjected to Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) testing in specially screened chambers similar to those used for TEMPEST testing, as discussed in my first UK Secrets article in Eye Spy 32, April/May 2005.
Take a look at the fascinating detail shown in Getmapping's aerial photo of the site (below). You will notice that there are extensive buildings to the north of the motorway and an obvious test track to the south, with a connecting overpass.
The test track is three miles long, with various challenging chicanes and negative camber features. At the centre of the track loop, you can spot an old Grade II listed mansion house, Barrowhills, complete with a small golf course. The mansion once housed the officers' mess for the military personnel at the north site. Also notice the handy train station - once actually rather quaintly called Longcross Halt - which brought staff and supplies to the site.
Over the years, some local residents have rather romantically referred to the Longcross military facility as "Tanklands".
Chobham Armour - the world-renowned protective coating for tanks, named after another town nearby - was invented here. It was developed in the late 1960s / early 1970s by Dr. Gilbert Harvey, a scientist working at what was then FVRDE Chobham.
DSTL / QinetiQ Chertsey
[ 51 22 52N, 00 35 02W ] |
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The top secret "recipe" for Chobham Armour is thought to involve a composite of a ceramic material such as silicon carbide and a matrix of hard metal like titanium. When suitably bonded together, the dispersal physics of this special "sandwich" was found to offer remarkable protection against HEAT attack - High Explosive Anti-Tank rounds. The invention was first employed on the UK's Challenger range of tanks, which eventually entered full service in the early 1980s.
Controversially, in more recent refinements of the idea, depleted uranium has been used as the metal in, for example, later revisions of the M1 Abrams - the principal battle tank of the US Army.
With such a unique asset, it is not surprising that the Longcross test track has been put to other non-military uses.
Many UK police forces have used it to train officers in the classic high-speed pursuit and interception manoeuvre known as "boxing". In this Tactical Pursuit and Containment (TPAC) training, four or more high performance police vehicles are used to surround and block off a target vehicle on a motorway, in order to effect a gradual and controlled halt.
Motor sport enthusiasts from around the country regularly converge on the venue for rally driving meetings that have evocative names like the Chieftain Sprint. A key feature of such meetings - the Snake stage - can clearly be seen on the aerial photo to the south east.
The track is obviously of great use to film and TV production units wishing to stage dangerous and complicated stunts. A new specialist website providing a database for location managers, www.locationx.net, features dozens of shots taken around the site.
Photos of both the research & development laboratories to the north of the M3 motorway and the test track to the south can be found by using the keywords "DERA", "tank" and "test track" in the database search facility, or simply click on the direct links below. One particularly impressive shot (below) shows the tank slopes in the centre of the track loop, just behind the Barrowhills mansion.
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It was announced in 2004 that, following over three years of intense negotiations between QinetiQ and a property development consortium, the whole site was to be sold off, ending over 60 years of military vehicle testing.
Political controversy has surrounded this as it has been argued in Parliament that QinetiQ (a private company) should be made to pay back the Government a share of any profits from the sale, to reflect the historical investment of public money in the site over half a century.
The 100 acre north site is not surprisingly earmarked as a million square feet of office space, whilst the test track site to the south is hoped to be turned into luxury housing with shopping facilities and even a community centre. Presumably the Grade II listed mansion and golf course will stay!
Whilst some residents may be glad to see the back of the military presence, will they welcome their new neighbours any more? As for the rally drivers and film companies - they'll just have to move on to another abandoned MoD site somewhere. With regard to future testing of military vehicles in the UK - well that's another story. Watch this space, as they say!
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The location featured in this article at high resolution courtesy of Google Maps!
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