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Originally posted by SimonGray
Don't forget this isn't the first time the U.S. Military is testing military hardware out of Scotland.
RAF Macrahanish (not sure on it's current status) used to be an official Navy SEALs deployment post. Scotland has also seen the arrival and departure of F-117as as well as rumoured testing of the Aurora.
Scotland does have some varying whether conditions which from my experience in both places, doesn't occur much in the States. Perhaps the environmental factor (fog, low level moisture, rain, general boggy weather) is something that the military want to test their new laser systems in. It would make sense to test such equipment in practical conditions.
An electromagnetic weapon would certainly be suspect to travelling through bad weather, dissipating the beam/projectile.
Originally posted by ADVISOR
Perhaps it's more safe there, as well as secluded. After all, testing it in States would draw alot of attention from people trying to investigate the "UFO Flack cannon" or something along those lines. I can just foresee the problems now...
Originally posted by ShadowXIX
I dont really buy this because we have areas in the US the size of Scotland where nobody lives. We also have friends like Australia which much larger and more remote areas.
I think I would have to go with it being a joint project between the US and UK.
Originally posted by jetsetter
Also it is getting harder to test weapons in the United States. There is always some person worried about the enviroment. Damn "enviromentalists"
Originally posted by dahl
why cant u.s. test their own weapons in their own country. i mean they are just trying to find new ways to kill people. if u wanna do that do it in your own country ffs
Originally posted by dragonrider
The MoD has faced complaints over its use of the range to fire thousands of shells coated with depleted uranium into the Solway Firth. There are fears the tests could be damaging the health of locals and the environment.
Powerful magnetised coils create an electric pulse which can fire a shell at 7500mph - around two miles a second - and kill a target more than five miles away.