British military to deploy Rapier missiles to protect Olympic game venues

Amid serious threat information, the British are deploying Rapier missiles to protect six different sites for the Olympic games in London.

The Rapier is a British surface-to-air missile developed for the British Army and Royal Air Force to combat long range and short range targets such as low flying aircraft.

The six sites where the surface to air missiles are proposed to be deployed include:

1. the Lexington Building in Tower Hamlets,
2. Fred Wigg Tower in Waltham Forest, east London,
3. Blackheath Common; Oxleas Wood,
4. Eltham; William Girling Reservoir,
5. Enfield
6. Barn Hill in Epping Forest.

It is meant to address the threat of 9-11 style attacks, such as a commercial aircraft being commandeered by terrorist and crashed into the Olympic venue.

In such an event it is presumed the decision will be made to blow the commercial airliner out of the sky, thereby reducing the risk of more casualties. “It’s a matter of killing a few hundred passengers who may have been taken hostage as compared to the death of thousands or tens of thousands of Olympic spectators watching the games”, said one expert, who declined to be named in this report. “The presumption is that the airline passengers are already dead when the terrorists take over the plane.”

The Rapier missiles are a failsafe in case a commercial aircraft suddenly or unexpectedly turns and makes a run for the stadiums.

Security experts assume they are being vigilant in addressing the threat.

Terrorism experts I talked with concerning this matter say the more attractive targets are nuclear power plants. Especially if terrorist crash a commercial airliner into a cooling tower.

What makes nuclear power plants more attractive targets is the potential to kill millions rather than thousands of people.

Robert Tilford