MOD using new drones to help people use Salisbury Plain safely

They need to make sure that their military training fields are free for Armed Forces personnel.

Author: Jack DeeryPublished 16th Sep 2020

New drones are being used by Training Safety Marshals on the Salisbury Plain to help stop any illegal activity.

The Ministry of Defence site has had a number of issues with people entering restricted areas and have been unable to locate them quickly.

They are used to find people using private areas of the land and get them to safety

So in order to keep the Salisbury Plain free for military training purposes they are using the new tech, that have speakers built in, to tell people they are in a dangerous area and that they should follow the drone to safety.

So far they have had to use it for things like dog walkers, hare coursing and illegal motorbike activity on numerous occasions.

They are equipped with a camera and loudspeaker, that are under the control of the handler.

One of the drones flying across Salisbury Plain

Lt Col Kevin Cammack told Greatest Hits Radio:

"We using these drones to enhance and utilise the safe place that is Salisbury Plain Training Area. They're there to give us situational awareness of over the hill or around the corner, places where we can't easily see and they're also fitted with a speaker and a spotlight which gives us reach so if we've got a problem with somebody in a out of bounds area that may be hazardous, we can fly out to them safely and speak to them and direct them to the safest route to get them back to a safe place.

It can benefit the public if they're in an out of bounds location but also whilst the vast majority of our users are absolutely responsible that respect Salisbury Plain, we do have an illegal and sometimes criminal element and it allows us to record video evidence to assist with overview and to pass on information to the Ministry of Defence police."

They say that the drones have been a success so far and they are planning to make sure that all Salisbury Plain Training Area staff who deploy on the ground are trained in their use.

There's an intention to provide others for regions across the country that have similar set ups

It's also intended on being rolled out to other regions who would benefit from them.