The planning application was submitted to Argyll and Bute Council at the beginning of January for a new 100m grouping and zeroling range, a new 600m electronic firing range, a range wardens complex, a range console building, and access tracks.

At present, Garelochhead Training Camp is used as an army training facility and includes an existing 400m five-lane firing range. The MoD has not confirmed when work would be likely to go ahead should the plans get the go ahead.

The camp was built in 1940, during World War Two, with 13 square miles of the surrounding area used as a training area. Around 22,000 US servicemen were accommodated and trained there immediately prior to the D-Day operations in 1944.

The camp can accommodate up to 500 personnel, and is still used regularly by the military to carry out residential work experience for school pupils and training exercises for Territorial Army units and regular Army recruits from the Infantry Training Centre.

The camp is also used by Strathclyde Police as an operating base during protests at the nearby HMNB Clyde.

A spokeswoman for Defence Infrastructure Organisation, which deals with MOD planning, said: “The planning application is not an expansion. It is for a new development contained entirely within MOD-owned property at Garelochhead Training Area. The development will create a new 600m range and refurbish an existing 100m range.”