The Apache helicopters of 656 Sqn AAC have recently honed their ‘Tactical Landing Zone’ skills at Pembrey Sands in Wales.

4 Regiment Army Air Corps tweeted:

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation replied, outlining the use the beach has to the armed forces.

According to the Defence Infrastructure Organisation:

“Pembrey Sands has been owned by the MOD for a long time, initially as an RAF station. In the mid-1930s it was the top bombing and gunnery school in the UK and by May 1940 it was a Fighter Command station. In the Second World War it was involved in the defence of industrial areas in Bristol and South Wales. RAF Pembrey itself was closed in 1957 and handed to Carmarthen County Council, so today we see Pembrey Country Park, a motor circuit and a private airport where the RAF base once was. The AWR at Pembrey Sands remains part of the MOD estate, bordered to the west and north by a large estuary and to the south by the wild forest of Pembrey Park. Activity on the range is managed from a control tower and beach guard boxes to ensure members of the public do not enter the AWR.

Pembrey Sands has unique features compared to the other UK AWRs in that its beach can provide a Temporary Landing Zone. It also provides accommodation and kitchen facilities. The beach is accessible at one hour after low tide, and the site is able to hold day and night landings, meaning training can take place in the dark. C130 aircraft regularly use the airstrip and we recently assisted in the first test sand landing of an A400M.”

You can read more on this here.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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9 COMMENTS

  3. Game changing asset this is, very affordable compared to peers and unrivalled abilities. These and Chinooks we need literally by the hundred.

  4. It seems that landing on sand with an Apache has been a skill that has probably been worked on pretty regularly for the last 30 years

  6. I remember taking a caravan holiday in Wales, with my ex, one year.

    Arrived, unpacked, enjoyed dinner and a drink and went to bed. Was woken up at stupid o’clock, although it was daylight. What woke me?

    Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

    Yep, A10’s shooting up the range that was just across the estuary. Was great to see

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