UK fighter jets and helicopters have taken part in a notable multi-domain training exercise in Estonia, alongside 11 NATO allies.
This activity involved more than 10,000 personnel and was held throughout May.
Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets and Army Air Corps Apache helicopters completed their training exercise last Friday. The main focus was practising strikes on sea targets with heavy machine guns and advanced missiles.
This training took place off the Estonian coast, further emphasising the global reach and adaptability of the UK armed forces.
The exercise, dubbed “Spring Tempest”, was a joint operation with Estonia and France. It highlighted the capacity of the UK and its allies to deliver precise strikes deep into enemy territory.
“Exercise Spring Tempest has been an outstanding opportunity to integrate effects across the Land, Maritime and Air domains. Working with the Royal Navy and Army has allowed us to exercise high-end skill sets, while enhancing interoperability across a broad range of NATO allies,” said Wing Commander Scott MacColl, 140 Expeditionary Air Wing’s Commanding Officer.
The Army Air Corps Aviation Taskforce supplied the Apache helicopters, armed with Hellfire missiles, CRV7 rockets, and 30mm rounds. The RAF provided the Typhoon jets, from 140 Expeditionary Air Wing, equipped with Paveway IV laser-guided bombs and 27mm armour piercing rounds.
The combined exercise involved a Forward Air Controller operating from a nearby Wildcat helicopter. This support enabled both types of aircraft to refuel and rearm while still in the mission area.
These training exercises followed closely on the heels of “Exercise Spring Storm”, another significant military training event in Estonia. This previous event saw over 1,500 UK soldiers and more than 10,000 personnel from 11 NATO countries participate in the largest annual military exercise in Estonia, under the UK-led NATO enhanced Forward Presence.
MacColl further emphasised the value of the exercise in solidifying NATO alliance, stating, “The flexibility to operate effectively across differing environments demonstrates our key contribution to collective defence and regional security. As important, the scale of this exercise further develops Alliance cohesion and cross nation understanding.”
Here’s the plane the Ukraine were going to send, but a previous engagement got in the way
https://i.postimg.cc/WbLNtWsr/Untitled-1.jpg
And with 2 SS under the wings. 👍
The article is about NATOs precision strike capability and whilst Russia has a similar capability, from the information made available to the public sector backed by how far Russia has advanced into the Ukraine we can only arrive at the conclusion, that despite the many advantages Moscow held (and still does) over it smaller neighbour they have failed to capitalize on it. We see this in the many examples (some even caught on camera) of missiles and bombs failing to hit their target, we see it in the many instances of urban targets getting struck (But to be fair, that… Read more »
Well written explanation of the situation, thank you Farouk.
Nice, and those little beauties under the wing are most certainly not zanussi washing machines as per the Russian Air Force bomb loads!!!!!!!