The deployment of UCAV and other military units in the UK

As part of the preparations for the London 2012 Olympics there has been consistent liaison between UK security forces and a number of countries competing at the games. It is reasonably well established that in addition to UK military personnel there are contingents from Germany, France, Russia, China, Japan and perhaps most interestingly from the US. The US force comes in three part, the first arriving two months ago in the form of new staff at the US embassy ostensibly communication specialists but in reality members of the SIS and CIA specialist reconnaissance and surveillance unit with special Presidential orders that supersede UK laws on monitoring and surveillance. This group has been working closely with MI6 and the metropolitan police to engage in counter-terrorist operations across London, targeting known terror cells and monitoring activity through known bank accounts and on e-mail and mobile phone communications. As part of this programme Research in Motion (RIM) the makers of the blackberry phones have been issued with UK court orders to provide the decryption technology required to analyse Blackberry Messenger communication data. This is something that RIM have strenuously refused to do previously, even in the case of last summers looting incidents. The US units have also brought with them the latest acoustic and monitoring equipment both static and vehicle based and are currently engaged deploying this against key strategic targets.

The second group is a counter-hijacking and personal protection trained platoon combining US Rangers, Seals and Marines. These units are based just outside London and are operating under the direct command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and authorised to use live ammunition in defence of US citizens on UK soil. This is the first time since World War II that this order has been mandated beyond American military bases, these being a separate subject area as they are technically American soil, and therefore operate subject to American laws. The US military units are working in co-operation with UK special forces and are specifically focused on preventing hostage situations, and directly engaging any terrorist threat. Part of this programme is also the embedding of special forces operatives with the G4S security programme for the games as well as being embedded in American commercial flight crews travelling to and from the games. The first waves of these troops are already on station and reinforcements are due over the next week or so.

The third aspect is probably the most contentious as it involves the use of two types of aircraft that have not operated officially in UK airspace prior to this point. These are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) the former being used as reconnaissance drones, the latter as remotely controlled armed combat vehicles. The deployment of UCAV in combat theatres has been a contentious issue for some time with reports of strikes against civilian targets coming particularly from the Kandahar region of Afghanistan. The idea of weaponised unmanned drones being deployed over the Capital city of a major developed country is frankly terrifying, yet this is the price of hosting one of the biggest events in terms of global audience. Whether these preparations are necessary, or whether the mere fact of them will be enough to deter terrorists will have to decided once the games are over, but for now, watch out for strangers on your street and keep watching the skies for some pretty unusual looking aerial vehices over the next month.