South Pembrokeshire residents had a rude awakening this morning when heavy tank and machine gun firing broke out soon after 12.30am.

Drones lit up the skyline for the next 30 minutes accompanied by continuous tank and heavy machine gun firing.

“It was a bit of a shock, to say the least,” said one of the residents who was woken in the early hours of Wednesday, June 15.

“We looked out of the window and saw the sky totally lit up by drones that were positioned over the Castlemartin Range area.

"And then all we could hear for the next 30 minutes was heavy tank and machine gun fire. To be honest, it was quite surreal.”

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The firing range has confirmed that the footpaths and roads which border the site will remain closed to the public until June 24, and the closures will operate for 24 hours a day.

The roads are the ones leading from Bosherston to St Govan’s Chapel and the minor road to Stack Rocks while the public footpath leads from St Govan’s Head to Broadhaven.

The extent of sea danger during the firing times is reported as being 3.5Nm West between Great Furznip and Linney Head and 5 Nm South between Linney Head and Castle Head.

The Castlemartin firing range is a 6,000 acre site owned by the Ministry of Defence.

Four fatalities have taken place here over the last ten years.

The first death occurred in 2012 when Ranger Michael Maguire of the First Battalion Royal Irish Regiment died as a result of machine gun fire.

At the time of his death he was training for deployment to Afghanistan.

On June 14, 2017 two Royal Tank Regiment soldiers were killed following a failure of the tank’s main armament.

Hot gases were discharged with the result that weapon charges which had been removed for storage were ignited.

Finally on March 21, 2021, Sergeant Gavin Hiller of the First Battalion of the Welsh Guards died during a live firing exercise.