Royal Marines have carried out a night-time amphibious assault in northern Norway as part of Exercise Tarassis.
The raid began with commandos launching from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Lyme Bay and enduring a two-hour transit through freezing fjords, where wind chill temperatures dropped to minus ten degrees.
Once ashore, the Royal Marines used inflatable raiding craft to land on a remote beach under cover of darkness, beginning a series of exercises testing the Joint Expeditionary Force’s (JEF) readiness in Arctic conditions.
Exercise Tarassis is described by the Ministry of Defence as the most ambitious live activity undertaken by the JEF since its formation at the 2014 NATO summit. The exercise spans from the Arctic Circle to the Baltic Sea and involves thousands of personnel from across the UK, Northern Europe, and Canada. It demonstrates the coalition’s ability to operate jointly across land, sea, air, space, and cyber domains.
Running from early September to the end of October, Tarassis aims to showcase how the JEF can act both independently and in support of NATO deterrence and reassurance operations. The UK, as the framework nation, is coordinating the exercise from the Standing Joint Force Headquarters near London.
The Royal Marines’ amphibious operations, say the MOD, highlight the JEF’s capacity to deploy and sustain high-readiness forces in harsh environments, projecting power in defence of Northern European security and demonstrating the unity of partner nations in the region.
