A British arms company has abandoned plans to detonate a fragmentation bomb in the middle of the World Heritage Site of Flow Country, The Guardian can reveal.
Overwatch sought permission from the Civil Aviation Authority this month to carry out “live-fire tests” to drop anti-personnel bombs from drones on land owned by Liberal Democrat peer John Thurso.
Flow Country became the world's first peatland to be given World Heritage status by UNESCO in July, recognising its rarity and importance in conserving it and fighting the climate crisis.
The bomb test was called off after The Guardian told Overwatch that the proposed area included part of the Strathmore peatland, a Site of Special Scientific Interest – a highly protected area that is home to rare and threatened birds such as the dunlin, black-streaked peat and greenshank.
Overwatch's chief operating officer, Mark Melhorn, said he was unaware that the area the company planned to use was within the World Heritage-listed Flow Country, or that it included part of the Strathmore peat bog.
Melhorn said Overwatch would immediately withdraw its application to the CAA and postpone all future testing of the bomb in the UK.
“We were directed to the area in question through our third-party provider, but at no time were we informed that any protective measures were in place in the area, including when we visited the site to scout,” he said.
A wider view. Photo: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Conservationists said they were shocked and alarmed by the application, and government agency NatureScot said it was surprised Overwatch had not known the area was highly protected.
A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said: “It is certainly unusual that an application to the CAA has been withdrawn and we had concerns about the potential impact on the site's designated area.”
The CAA application was submitted by OW Energetics, a subsidiary of arms company Overworks, which specialises in making anti-personnel bombs and military drones.
Overworks is owned by former army officer Drew Michael, who has frequently featured in the Mail Online and The Sun since he began dating Louise Redknapp, the model ex-wife of former footballer Jamie Redknapp.
Melhorn confirmed that Overwatch was planning to test a fragmentation bomb, which the company advertises as having “great kinetic effects for its size and mass” and weighing just 1.5 kilograms.
Overwatch also sells small drones that can hover above a target, a tactic known as “static reuter.”
The group had sought permission from the CAA to fly drones and drop bombs into a two-kilometre (1.2-mile) diameter security zone on the Thurso family estate, near Loch Moor, east of Altnabreck station.
The company summarised the plan as “a live-fire test of a One-Way System UAV fitted with an anti-personnel warhead targeting a designated area in the Glengory area of the Albster site.”
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The sign for Albster House in Flow Country, Caithness. Photograph: Murdough MacLeod/The Guardian
Caithness was chosen on the advice of the test-firing contractor after the Ministry of Defence refused permission to test the device at a live-fire range on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire on the grounds that it was not an official test.
Lord Thurso said he was unaware that Overwatch was planning to use drones, that fragmentation bombs were being used, or that part of Strathmore peat bog was included in the CAA application.
He said a deep quarry he owns near the peat bog had been used without incident for 20 years to test “all kinds of” military and munitions.
Thurso speculated that with the war in Ukraine causing a massive increase in demand, Overwatch may have been planning to use the quarry to fly drones over the peat bogs to detonate the device.
He said he would “never approve” the use of drones or explosives over Strathmore and “certainly would never give permission to drop bombs on the marshes.”
A NatureScot spokesman said: “We were surprised the provider did not consult with us to determine environmental considerations, including an impact assessment on the designated natural area, but are relieved to hear the application for live ammunition testing has been withdrawn.”
“Flow Country was only designated a World Heritage Site last month so it is understandable that the applicants were unaware of this recent honour, however the Strathmore Peatlands Area of Special Scientific Interest has been designated since 1992.”
