UKSF In London Terror Drill
08.03.2016
United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) and bomb disposal experts have taken part in secret exercises in London, it has been revealed. [1] [2]
A number of exercises focused on the use by terrorists of sophisticated explosive devices were held in several locations in the capital, including Lord's cricket ground and empty buildings near Lambeth Palace and M16 headquarters. The security drills included members of the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS), Metropolitan police and explosive ordnance demolition (EOD) specialists. American units from the FBI, Delta Force and Navy SEALs were also involved in the exercises, which were run in secret, with troops operating on the streets in plain clothes.
The exercise was given the name 'Kirchhoff's Impedance', after Gustav Kirchhoff, a German physicist who studied electrical circuits, and involved COBRA, the government's crisis committee. In a real emergency, the Prime Minister would oversee the security response from the COBRA control centre.
On one exercise, held at Lord's on February 25th, 5 teams of specialists dealt with several devices placed in the cricket ground's Grand Stand. The teams had to determine the level of threat, secure the area and cover the EOD specialists as they worked to disarm the bombs. The devices simulated were more complex than the IEDs used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Security chiefs fear that ISIS are planning to use sophisticated devices, including dirty bombs, in large scale 'spectacular' attacks on western targets.
The military has a number of EOD units that are trained for such contingencies. See our EOD section for more info.
