UK MoD's 9-day Olympic security drill to include snipers, missiles, fighter jets

London, May 1 (ANI): Keen to ensure full proof security for the London Olympics that take place in July this year, the British ministry of Defence will undertake a nine-day training exercise that will see missile practise drills, helicopters and gunships in operation.

Inside a ring enforced by six ground-based missile stations, RAF Typhoon fast jets will patrol the skies, alongside navy helicopters carrying snipers from the Royal Marines, whose job it will be to shoot aircraft pilots who refuse to turn back from the Olympic Park.

The training exercise is aimed at testing the security plan for the games. Almost 1 billion pounds is being spent on security at the coming Olympics.

It will see warships carrying helicopters stationed near Olympic venues, and fast jets patrolling flight paths through London.

The Independent quoted British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond as saying that a major part of the security exercise will be played out in full public view.

Hammond said he hoped the exercise would reassure the British about them experiencing a safe and secure Olympics.

Six sites, at Epping, Enfield, Blackheath, Greenwich, Bow and Waltham Forest are planned for installations of air defence missile systems.

Almost 20,000 security guards will be deployed, many of them volunteers. The figure includes 7,500 soldiers and Navy personnel in security roles.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison, who is the National Olympic Security Co-ordinator, insisted that no diplomatic staff or security officers from other countries, including the US, would be permitted to carry firearms during the games. (ANI)