Dundrennan Range is a weapons testing range on the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven ...

, near

Kirkcudbright Kirkcudbright ( ; sco, Kirkcoubrie; gd, Cille Chùithbeirt) is a town, parish and a Royal Burgh from 1455 in Kirkcudbrightshire, of which it is traditionally the county town, within Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The town lies southwest of ...

in Dumfries and Galloway, in south west

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, it is part of the Ministry of Defence's Kirkcudbright Training Area.

History

Previously farming land, the site of was acquired by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 1942 to train forces for the invasion of

mainland Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

. The area includes a sea danger area. The range takes its name from the nearby village of Dundrennan. There is evidence of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

settlement on the site evidenced by rock art, flint tools and fortified enclosures.

Rail gun & depleted uranium controversy

The range is the site of the Electro-Magnetic Launch Facility where, since 1993, the Ministry of Defence and the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

have been collaborating on a research project aimed at developing an electro-magnetic launcher, or

railgun A railgun or rail gun is a linear motor device, typically designed as a weapon, that uses electromagnetic force to launch high velocity projectiles. The projectile normally does not contain explosives, instead relying on the projectile's high ...

, capable of launching shells at and destroying a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

at a distance of . The weapon developed at the site by the

Defence Research Agency The Defence Research Agency (DRA) was an executive agency of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) from April 1991 until April 1995. At the time, the DRA was Britain's largest science and technology organisation. In April 1995, the DRA was combined wi ...

is considered to be the most successful example of a rail gun developed as it holds a number of records on velocity. In 2001 local people raised concern over the use of depleted uranium shells on the site given health fears which had come to light after service personnel from the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

had fallen sick from such ammunition, however a spokesperson from the

claimed the tests were entirely safe. Later that year the Scottish National Party lodged a debate in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

to call for the immediate suspension of tests on the site, however this was dismissed by the then

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

Geoff Hoon Geoffrey William Hoon (born 6 December 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire from 1992 to 2010. He is a former Defence Secretary, Transport Secretary, Leader of ...

. In 2003 the renewal of the project was opposed by the then First Minister of Scotland

Jack McConnell Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister ...

until a local consultation on the use of the weapon could be carried out, however the site continued to operate. In 2006 concerns were again raised by local

MSPs Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

Alasdair Morgan Alasdair Neil Morgan (born 21 April 1945) is a former Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was Depute Leader of the SNP from 1990–91 and served in the British House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Galloway and Upper Nithsd ...

and Chris Ballance regarding the use of depleted uranium shells at the site after calls by a number of international bodies to stop the usage of such armaments given their impact on human health. It is estimated that the site has fired over 6,000 rounds of depleted uranium, amounting to 20 tons, into the

. In 2008 the then Scottish Government environment minister Michael Russell criticised the continued tests on site of depleted uranium despite previous moves to stop the live testing. In 2013, following

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

legislation to protect the marine environment campaigners urged the cessation of use of live shells into the sea, however notes from a Ministry of Defence meeting reveal that the legislation would not impact on the site as the shells were 'placed' not 'dumped' into the sea - a response campaigners concluded was a loophole. Later in 2013 the local MP Russell Brown said that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had assured him that there were no plans to resume testing of such weapons on the site. In 2019 renewed testing at the site resulted in the closure of access, installation of fencing and removal of tenant farmers and their livestock. This caused opposition amongst local residents who claimed there had been no consultation, with the MoD saying the site could be closed for up to five years.

Current use

The site is used today as a

field of fire The field of fire of a weapon (or group of weapons) is the area around it that can easily and effectively be reached by gunfire. The term 'field of fire' is mostly used in reference to machine guns. Their fields of fire incorporate the beaten zon ...

and as a training site for infantry both with live and blank ammunition. The site is not open to public access during testing, except tenant farmers, as there is a danger of unexploded ordnance on the site. Given the lack of public access the Ministry of Defence report a number of rare plants in the botany of the range including ''

glaucium flavum ''Glaucium flavum'', the yellow horned poppy, yellow hornpoppy or sea poppy, is a summer flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is native to Europe, Northern Africa, Macaronesia and temperate zones in Western Asia. The plant grows on th ...

'', yellow vetch and '' anacamptis pyramidalis''. Limited public access is maintained on a number on specific paths and roads through the site when live testing is not being undertaken. In March 2018, the Ministry of Defence indicated that it was at the very early stages of plans to develop and enhance the training facilities at Dundrennan.{{Cite web, url=http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-03-05/130819, title=Firing Ranges: Dundrennan:Written question - 130819, last=Ellwood, first=Tobias, date=12 March 2018, website=UK Parliament, access-date=12 March 2018

References

External links

Dundrennan Range
from www.secretscotland.org.uk Buildings and structures in Dumfries and Galloway Military of Scotland Weapons test sites Solway Firth