The British Army’s 7th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (7 SCOTS) has begun training at a newly developed urban operations facility in Dundee, using simulated ammunition (simunition) to prepare for deployments both at home and abroad, according to a press release.
Located in Oliver Barracks, the facility allows Reservists to practice close-quarter combat in realistic ‘force-on-force’ scenarios with immersive training aids, including smoke, light, and sound systems funded by grants from the Highland Reserve Force and Cadet Association (HRFCA).
The aim is to enhance infantry skills and readiness through progressive and practical exercises.
“The opportunity for our Reservists to train locally in high-quality training facilities is hugely important,” said Brigadier Lisa Brooks, Commander of the 19th Light Brigade, during a visit to the site.
“I am very grateful to Highland RFCA for their generosity to enable 7 SCOTS to further develop this inspiring urban operations training facility which other local units and civilian agencies will benefit from in the future.”
The new facility is the result of significant efforts by the 7 SCOTS’ permanent staff to convert existing real estate into a legally compliant urban operations site, which is expected to serve not only military personnel but also other agencies.
This development comes as the Army Reserve focuses on enhanced readiness as part of the British Army’s 1st (United Kingdom) Division.
The battalion is set to embark on a busy training year, including live-fire exercises, leadership training, and battlefield competency drills that incorporate lessons learned from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. One of the highlights will be their Annual Deployment Exercise in Otterburn, one of the UK’s most challenging training areas.
Lieutenant Colonel David Robertson, Commanding Officer of 7 SCOTS, emphasised the benefits of reservist training. “Reservists bring specialist civilian capabilities that are essential both on and off the battlefield, while gaining transferable qualifications by training with the Army,” he said.
“The roles and tasks demanded of the Army Reserve continue to evolve, with more opportunities to enjoy the challenges that come with being a Reservist both in the UK and worldwide.”
The facility’s opening follows 7 SCOTS’ participation in Exercise Rhino Heart, the largest Army Reserves deployment since the Cold War, which saw reservists integrate with NATO partner forces in Germany last year.
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During the Cold War, the Army built a facility at Chattenden to train infantry in “Fighting in a Built Up Area” (FIBUA). Apparently, these days it’s “Urban Warfare” This consisted of a village high street complete with shops, residential, a garage, car parks etc. It’s still there, but now very dilapidated.
David, Many urban villages exist or used to. Tin City in Sennelager was one, I think used for NI training. There was another one in Aldershot. The FIBUA village at Copehill Down was built to resemble a German village for Cold War exercises. I had not heard of the Chatttenden one, then a RE barracks I believe.
This facility is a bit different from Urban Villages, a few new ones have been built recently (there’s one in Warminster I think, recently went there but I was on a coach and didn’t pay attention to were we where going lol). It’s an indoor facility with movable walls so that it can be configured any way the visiting troops want (or even be reconfigured to a degree in the middle of training for variation).
Above the training area there are catwalks so that OM’s and DS can watch the training without getting in the way, there are smoke generators, loudspeakers for ambient noise, obviously the lights can be turned off, there are cameras so that AAR can be conducted with the troops for debriefs. Only thing I’d say is there are only a few stairs to train on, but by and large it’s a massive step up from playing with blanks in a old school kill house or urban village.
Dern, is the Warminster one the facility known as CAST?
Possibly? It’s brand new, I think it was still being trialled when we went.
There are several.
The Felix CIED site at Kineton for the RE.
Copehill Down and Imber at SPTA, Eastmere at STANTA, Caerwent, Lydd, Whinny Hill at Catterick, Cilieni at SENTA, Dalbeatie in Scotland.
These are FIBUA sites. Some are purpose built villages, like the one at Eastmere. One is in an abandoned village evacuated in WW2, Imber.
Longmoor has an UTC, using old MoD housing stock.
DSF has its own version.
Probably others that have slipped my mind.
Is this the first FIBUA facility in Scotland? If so, long overdue. Interesting that it is a home-made project by PS. The photo does not show very much and could be better – soldiers not wearing helmets, no BFAs fitted, not even sure magazines are fitted (maybe my eyesight is lacking though)!
Correct on all three accounts but if they’re using simulated ammunition bfas would not be attached as the paint balls would not exit the barrel
Magazines are not fitted. Simmunition is actually pretty dangerous and rather painful. You are not allowed to use it without PPE (especially eye and mouth protection) so if they where actually using it they’d have helmets, and either the Virtus Mandible Guards and Visors attached, or Ballistic Glasses and Simmunition mouth guards.
Since Simmunition actually uses a round that is fired from the Rifle, no BFA’s are fitted when training with it.
My guess is this is a picture of troops doing dry drills before working up to Sim on target (ie a figure 11’s in the rooms for troops to shoot) or Sim-on-Sim (ie Enemy in the room shooting back with simmunition).
Dalbeatie, near the Galloway Forest, is a FIBUA site, but pretty rustic I believe.
Lol you can tell immediately they are reservists from the picture, they think they are holding an M4 looking ally
What makes you think they’re holding an M4?
*Makes you think they think they’re holding an M4
Freebie Starmer getting the military ready to go against the civilian uprising against his pathetic, LEFTY/WOKY incompetent bunch of ministers.
Depending on the battlefield (scenario)…
For me Its safer to either bomb it the \ or send fpv drones in first
Ive seen some the british army videos recently where the “enemy soldier” is just sat in the room and the other side just stupidly strolling in through the door… bang bang your dead…
Cant do that in somewhere like Ukraine … the ruins and buildings are a snipers paradise as well
But this sort of training gives valuable insight and definately worth the effort
Some cracking threads on here recently! 😉
Shame you don’t remember which video, because I could shed some light if I could see exactly what was happening.
Calling fires on a building is safer, it’s also easier, but it isn’t always possible. Either because you want to occupy the building, or there’s the possibility of civilians present, or simply because you can’t get eyes on to confirm whether there even is someone in the structure, or your in a dynamic situation and you need to occupy a structure NOW, or even because you just don’t have fires available at that time. CQB is hard, and needs a lot of practice to be good at it, while calling in fires is (comparatively) easy, so you need to spend a much larger amount of time practicing your CQB skills, both individually and as a team, than you do calling in fires.
It’s the same for going into a room, the stack commander will make a situational call, in general the preference is to fight from the door, but that might not be possible, and instead a dynamic entry will be used, and yes that is a very dangerous job for the first man through the door (although we don’t typically “stroll in” which is why I’d like to see the video you are referencing).
Just go stay in govan
It’s Glasgow isn’t it……