The US Navy are carrying out a large scale shore bombing exercise at the MoD range at Cape Wrath in March. This was due to have been carried out in Puerto Rico. The MoD have denied that any DU shells will be used during this exercise.

EUROPE TODAY
Thursday, December 16, 1999
US navy to bomb tip of Scotland
by IAN MARKHAM-SMITH
(Story at: http://www.scmp.com/News/World/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-19991216032525079.asp

The United States navy is to bomb a remote Scottish beauty spot with live ammunition after being banned from its Caribbean firing range.

The navy was forced to pull out of its base in Puerto Rico after accidentally killing a security guard in April.

Ships and planes will descend on Cape Wrath, the northwestern tip of Scotland within weeks.

A taskforce headed by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower includes two guided missile cruisers, four guided missile destroyers and two frigates. The ships will have a complement of 8,360 crew.

They will be allowed to drop high-explosive bombs, and fire shells and missiles at the tiny island of Garvie and at a restricted area on the mainland for several weeks.

The manoeuvres have caused outrage in Scotland. Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond said: "America has an abundance of its own natural coastline. I would have thought their navy could have practised there."

The Scottish Green Party's Robin Harper said: "It is completely preposterous. The United States navy has a terrible record for incompetence. So why are they coming to blast Scotland?"

The navy was forced to abandon its base on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques after a Marine corps jet dropped two 227kg bombs off target, hitting an observation tower. Islanders occupied the site and demanded a halt to the use of live explosives.

Just a month later, a Marine fighter jet accidentally fired 263 armour-piercing shells loaded with depleted uranium into the range, breaking several laws.

The navy had used the range on Vieques, between Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, for live firing for 58 years.

President Bill Clinton is desperately trying to negotiate a return. But while talks continue, the US has been allowed to use Cape Wrath.

A spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence said: "The Royal Navy uses Cape Wrath for live firing several times a year."

But John Ainslie, of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: "It is a disgrace . . . Scotland is now at the receiving end of the 'special relationship' between Britain and America."

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