High Altitude Firing Areas (HAFA)

[PNK]

Recently found a document the implied that in the late 1950s all the coastal air to air ranges were being replaced by High Altitude Firing Areas that were controlled by radar.
This would tie in nicely with the lack of mention of the old ranges from around this time but does anyone know where the HAFAs were, how many and how the radar control worked?
I guess that radar control would be similar to controlling any airspace but doing the opposite to keeping the aircraft apart?
Are they still in use?

[canberra]

AFAIK there are danger areas in the North Sea for air to air gunnery, Ive forgotten the numbers of the danger areas. For missile firing theres the Cardigan Bay range. And at Leuchars while I was there we had trial APOLLO take place a couple of mtimes, this was missile firing (Skyflash not Sidewinder) and that took place to the north of the Shetlands.

[PNK]

Thanks canberra. I will try to dig out some old air charts from the 1980s (If the boss hasn't recycled them). With the lack of gunnery in modern aircraft I wonder if they still exist or if they do, for how much longer. I doubt missiles would be fired over the North Sea but Cardigan Bay and North Uist (?) I know of as missile firing locations.

[David Thompson]

How about this 'virtual' weapons range over the North Sea ; http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/hangar/2001/acmi/acmi.htm

And another link , probably many more too ? ;
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchi...0-%201459.html

[PNK]

Sounds very High-tech. The circular area is very similar to a proposal from 1938/9 to allocated areas for air firing to each command outside territoril waters, though not that far out. It was binned after 3/9/1939 for some reason.
The modern version sounds easy to find, given the physical presence of towers. Makes you wonder how they did it in 1939.

[canberra]

Lack of gunnery in modern aircraft??? All the RAFs fighters/fast jets either have a gun fitted or have the facility for a gun pack. The RAFs last non gun equipped fighter was the Harrier and thats just retired.

[PETERTHEEATER]

But even that had bolt-on gun pods for some Marks.

[canberra]

The bolt on pods were for the GR3/T4. As has bee said by someone else on the site the HarrierII/GR5 or as I call it a bag of **** gun was a fiasco, I really cant understand why wew just didnt use the same one as the USMC. But of course thats too easy for MOD isnt it!!!!!

[RAF EOD]

On the American AV8 the gun is contained in one pod and the ammunition in the pod on the opposite side of the aircraft. The ammunition is fed from this pod to the gun in the other underneath the aircraft in a faired over section of trunking. This arrangement prevents fitting a centreline weapons station on the aircraft which the RAF were not willing to do without due to this station being the only one on the GR5/7/9 that is capable of carrying a recce pod. It's also where the baggage pod gets fitted on landaways and has a capability for carrying bombs too (though it's anything but fun trying to load anything on this station - trust me!) Hence - no gun. Sadly I might add...