A military camp on Benbecula could become a temporary base for hundreds of personnel when one of Europe’s biggest live-fire naval exercises returns to the Outer Hebrides next year.

The Ministry of Defence has applied to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar for temporary planning permission to install a series of modular buildings at West Camp, near Balivanich, to support Exercise Formidable Shield 2027.

The facilities would provide welfare, catering, meeting, reception and security facilities for personnel involved in the NATO exercise.

Formidable Shield is a major multinational live-fire exercise focused on integrated air and missile defence. It brings together allied ships, aircraft and ground forces to test their ability to detect, track and respond to missile and aerial threats.

The exercise has been held every two years since 2015, alternating between the Andøya range in Norway and the Hebrides Range.

The most recent exercise, in 2025, involved around 7,000 military personnel and 11 Allied nations. The Hebrides Range was expanded for the exercise to create a managed battlespace of around 1.1 million square kilometres – four times the size of the UK.

The 2027 exercise is expected to once again bring significant military activity to the waters and airspace around the Western Isles.

The planning application seeks permission for new facilities at West Camp for a duration of one year for a mixed-use modular building containing a dining area, kitchen, bar servery and seating area.

It would also include toilets, meeting rooms, a television room, reception facilities and a security check area.

Three separate units are proposed to provide a gym, laundry and induction facilities.

The buildings would support a separate temporary accommodation project proposed for the camp.

The application states that the site is currently an open hard-standing area beside existing sleeping accommodation and an indoor range.

It has previously been used for temporary modular communal welfare facilities during earlier Formidable Shield exercises.

West Camp has a long association with the military presence in the Uists and acts as an accommodation and support facility for the MOD Hebrides Range.

The range is operated by defence company QinetiQ on behalf of the Ministry of Defence under its Long Term Partnering Agreement. The MOD Hebrides complex covers sites across South Uist, Benbecula and St Kilda.

The military presence associated with the Hebrides Range dates back almost 70 years to the 1950s.

The range was constructed by the Royal Air Force between 1957 and 1958, originally to test the Corporal missile – the first guided nuclear weapon developed jointly by Britain and the United States.

Benbecula became the headquarters and main airfield for the range, with permanent accommodation and support facilities established on the island.

The missile range also has a significant place in the cultural history of the islands. The opening of the range inspired Compton Mackenzie’s 1957 novel Rockets Galore, a sequel to his earlier success Whisky Galore.

Today, the range is used for the testing, evaluation and training of modern weapons systems and provides a highly instrumented environment for air, sea and land-based trials.

The core range provides around 115,000 square kilometres of controlled airspace, but can be substantially expanded for major exercises such as Formidable Shield.

Formidable Shield has grown considerably since the first exercise in 2015.

In 2023, more than 20 ships, 35 aircraft and almost 4,000 military personnel from 13 NATO nations and partner countries took part. The exercise included live-fire engagements involving ballistic, subsonic and supersonic targets.

The 2021 exercise involved more than 3,300 personnel, 16 ships and 31 aircraft from 10 NATO nations.

The scale increased further in 2025, when almost 7,000 personnel participated in the exercise across the Hebrides and Norwegian ranges. More than 100 targets were used, including ballistic and supersonic and subsonic missile threats and unmanned aircraft systems.

The exercise is led by the US Sixth Fleet together with Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO.

The planning application will now be considered by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. To view it click here.

Photo credit: Royal Navy.