Copehill Down

Copehill Down is a UK Ministry of Defence training facility located on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It is a 'FIBUA' (Fighting In Built Up Areas) urban warfare and Close quarters battle training centre where exercises and tests are conducted.^[1]

It is located at Ordnance Survey map grid reference grid reference SU017453.

The Village was built in 1988 to resemble a German village in Bavaria, to provide troops with a simulated backdrop when training for operations in European theatres including the Cold War, the Balkans and Northern Ireland.

In recent years the facility has been expanded to include a Shanty Town made up of cargo containers stacked and laid out in rows of tightly packed streets, to provide an additional training area that more closely resembles the Army's current operational theatres in Operation Herrick and Operation Telic.

Non combat access to Copehill Down is generally restricted, however the facility has been used for regular airsoft wargaming by certain British airsoft event organizers and Historical Reenactment societies, which take part in Private Reenactment Battles.

References

1. ^ "Wiltshire - In Pictures" BBC News October 2007 Retrieved 18 November 2010

External links

• More pictures of Copehill Down
• Copehill Down FIBUA training Village. - REPORT - description and pictures from urban exploration types
• Robots battle for military prize - on the use of Copehill Down for testing surveillance robots in urban areas
  • In Pictures: Grand Challenge - images related to the above; see picture 3
• - Stirling Airsoft Operation: Tempest - use of Copehill Down for Airsoft

Coordinates: 51°12′25″N 1°58′38″W / 51.206971°N 1.977126°W / 51.206971; -1.977126