Justin Davenport
This is London
April 30, 2012
London will be ringed by six missile sites to guard against a 9/11-style suicide jet attack during the Olympics.
One battery could be positioned near a playground in Waltham Forest with the others providing round-the-clock cover from Blackheath Common, the Lea Valley Reservoir, Oxleas Wood, Barn Hill in Epping Forest and on top of a block of flats in Bow.
David Cameron will have ultimate responsibility for any decision to fire the surface-to-air Starstreak and Rapier missiles.
The weapons travel at three times the speed of sound with a range of 3.4 miles. General Sir Nick Parker, in charge of Olympic operations, said: “We are practising for the worst-case scenario, not the most likely scenario but we believe that it is prudent to be prepared. It is sensible to prepare for the worst.”
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