Airspace is being restricted and limited GPS jamming will take place for the visit of HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Firth of Clyde between 0500 hours on the 14th of March to 2359 hours on the 20th of March.

This is standard practice and is done to keep the vessel and her crew safe and secure.

The Royal Navy say that the 65,000-tonne aircraft will return to Glen Mallen on the Clyde in Scotland on Monday for a “routine logistics visit and also hopes to visit Liverpool on her return leg to Portsmouth at the end of the month”.

According to a NOTAM warning:

“BTN 0500 AND 1400 HOURS ON 14 MAR 2022 NO ACFT IS TO FLY BLW 6000FT AMSL WITHIN THE AREA DEPICTED BY STRAIGHT LINES JOINING SUCCESSIVELY 560411N 0044039W – 560232N 0043135W – 555142N 0043114W – 555120N 0044342W. BTN 0500 HOURS ON 14 MAR 22 AND 2359 HOURS ON 20 MAR 2022 NO ACFT IS TO FLY BLW 6000FT AMSL WI A CIRCLE CENTRED ON 560749N 0044907W RADIUS OF 6NM. 

“THESE RESTRICTIONS DO NOT APPLY TO ANY MANNED ACFT FLYING IN THE SERVICE OF POLICE SCOTLAND, IN THE SERVICE OF THE SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICES, IN THE SERVICE OF THE MARITIME AND COASTGUARD AGENCY FOR THE PURPOSES OF SEARCH AND RESCUE ONLY, OR ANY SCHEDULED ACFT EN ROUTE TO, OR DEPARTING FROM GLASGOW AIRPORT OR PRESTWICK AIRPORT, UNDER THE CONTROL OF NATS GLASGOW AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL OR PRESTWICK AIRPORT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL OR NATS PRESTWICK CENTRE.”

GPS jamming is also mentioned:

“GNSS(GPS) SIGNAL AND RADIO FREQUENCY JAMMING (COMMON SHORT RANGE
FREQUENCIES USED BY UAS AND ELECTRONIC SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
SYSTEMS). JAMMERS LOCATED WI RESTRICTED AREA (TEMPORARY) AS DEFINED
BY NOTAM BRIEFING SHEET RESTRICTION OF FLYING REGULATIONS: FIRTH OF
CLYDE AND LOCH LONG, 12-20 MARCH 2022. ACTIVITY MAY AFFECT AIRCRAFT
WI LATERAL DIMENSIONS OF RESTRICTED AREA (TEMPORARY) AS DEFINED WI
BRIEFING SHEET SFC TO 30000FT AMSL OR ABOVE (ALL DIRECTIONS).

MAY ALSO AFFECT AIRBORNE ELECTRONIC SITUATIONAL AWARENESS DEVICES AND
UAS CONTROL. GNSS(GPS) RECEIVERS MAY SUFFER INTERMITTENT / TOTAL
FAILURE OR GIVE INCORRECT POSITION INFO. SOME ELECTRONIC SITUATIONAL
AWARENESS DEVICES AND UAS MAY SUFFER INTERMITTENT / TOTAL FAILURE
OR GIVE INCORRECT NOTIFICATION.”

This will be the first time the vessel has visited the Northern Ammunition Jetty at Glen Mallan near Faslane since it was upgraded.

According to a news release on the upgrade work:

“We awarded a £67m contract to VolkerStevin in 2019. Alongside them, we worked with managing agent Jacobs, which provided engineering and professional services, as well as designer Arch Henderson. In completing this major project, £20m was spent with local suppliers and small and medium enterprises in Scotland. The jetty was last upgraded in the 1970s and had reached the end of its economic life. The upgrade work has not only extended the life of the jetty by an estimated fifty years, but has also made the site accessible for the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

In fact, HMS Queen Elizabeth visited part way through the work, back in March 2021, in preparation for her first operational deployment. This was not originally planned but became necessary when the scale of the ship’s deployment increased, presenting the team with a challenge to make the jetty operational in time for her arrival. Everyone involved, from DIO, VolkerStevin, Jacobs and the various subcontractors worked closely together to enable HMS Queen Elizabeth to berth at the unfinished jetty, which she did successfully.”

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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21 COMMENTS

  2. Great work on the jetty. Such a great place to keep the weapons. In the hillside.
    There used to be RFA ship there for a while the last few times I was there. Perhaps a fort. Can’t exactly remember.

  3. Glad they have this ability to jam and disrupt any snooping eyes, drones etc. Hopefully the ship is taking on a war load of weaponry just in case things go south. Which is looking more and more likely. Just a matter of time until Putins forces do something they wont live long enough to regret. Like shooting at NATO forces or bombing logistic convoys in NATO countries.

    • I did wonder given the very public notification of what is normally a routine activity , if the implication was that she is now carrying a full weapons load

    • > Just a matter of time until Putins forces do something they wont live long enough to regret. Like shooting at NATO forces or bombing logistic convoys in NATO countries.

      Oh, if Putin’s even more insane than he already is, and wants to target a NATO supply line supplying Ukraine, he’ll definitely use his little green men for plausible deniability.

      • I know, imagine that! Crazily the ‘entire British Army’ would seemingly flatten that joke of a military that Russia has turned out to be ahahaha

        Imagine being that broken as a military organisation that you can’t even keep your tyres pumped up and solders fed ahahahaha

        Embarrassment the lot of them. I’ve seen better solders cut out of buttered bread next to my boiled egg at breakfast.

  6. Hi folks hope all is well.
    Interesting read, and of course security for Lizzie is paramount and keep any work from being snooped upon.
    However, security is a problem when others are exempt from the restrictions.
    So my question here is are all members of the police etc loyalty to the UK? And there are no potential spy’s amongst their number? Tricky situation.
    Cheers,
    George

    • There are much larger issues with the police force that need to be solved first. Unless they are very high ranking I wouldn’t have thought it would make much difference anyway.

  7. Many years ago as an instructor at Strathclyde Uni Sub Aqua Club, we’d often go diving in Loch Long on Wednesday nights. One of our sites was just north of the old jetty, and in a current, me and my student drifted under an RFA ship and bumped into it in poor Viz. When we got back to the cars there were two pissed off navy guys in a land rover complaining. Of course, the midges were terrible so we ignored them, striped our gear and drove off as quickly as possible. Has security improved since the mid 90’s… ?

  8. What ever happened to that Russian fleet excercise off Ireland a few weeks back in the run up to the Invasion? Distraction tactic or something more sinister – or both I wonder?

  10. An Aircraft carrier is a bit of a large target in this day and age, it might go the way of tanks which are being picked off fairly easily by hand held missiles, I would say tanks are now obsolete.

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