The Royal Marines, alongside other elements of the UK Commando Force, are deploying to the Arctic Circle to reinforce NATO’s northern flank amid ongoing tensions in Europe, according to a news update.
The deployment underscores the United Kingdom’s commitment to the region’s security through participation in major military exercises and cold-weather training.
The British contingent, including the Royal Marines, Army Commandos, and the Commando Helicopter Force, has undergone three months of rigorous preparation for operations in the harsh Arctic environment, where temperatures can drop to -35°C, and sunlight is minimal during the polar night.
Their base of operations, Camp Viking, located near Skjold in Norway, will serve as a hub for the next decade as the Royal Marines continue their tradition of cold-weather and mountain warfare, which dates back to the 1940s.
As part of their training, the Commandos are refining their ability to operate in the Arctic terrain, including survival, movement, and combat techniques. This preparation will culminate in Exercise Joint Viking, Norway’s largest military exercise of 2025, involving over 10,000 troops from seven nations.
The British contribution will form the Littoral Response Group (North), a versatile task force comprising amphibious ships, landing craft, helicopters, and troops.
In addition to troop readiness, the deployment includes the integration of new technology, such as snowmobiles acquired through a £10 million investment, to enhance reconnaissance and raiding capabilities. The Commando Helicopter Force, based at Bardufoss under Operation Clockwork, continues its annual environmental flying qualifications and cold-weather training, ensuring air crews are adept at operating in extreme conditions.
“Op Clockwork has been a cornerstone of Arctic training for over 50 years, providing essential skills for Joint Helicopter Command personnel,” the release noted. Training includes environmental flying qualifications, survival courses, and advanced cold-weather operational drills, such as helicopter landing site assessment in snow and ice.
Snowmobiles – new technology! Really! New to the Commandos perhaps but to my knowledge they have been around to decades. I’m actually rather surprised that we have not been using for decades as well..! Nice to see us catching up with modern tech.
Cheers CR
PS. Don’t mind me feeling a bit negative about the impending cuts…
If we are lucky we will have 1 Bay class in attendance so this hardly equates the plural of ‘amphibious ships’. Also a a high proportion of personnel this year are novices because of the numbers leaving so training is rather limited.
But let’s not let reality get in the way of a good press release.
I noted that too….Ships my foot.
1 Bay.
2 or 3 Merlin and similar of Wildcat?
Parts of Four Five, 24RE, 29RA.
A single LCU or LCVP?
A versatile task force?
Utterly hamstrung by lack of mass, firepower, and transport.
From what I understand possibly 1 LCU and 1 LCVP. Embarrassing
Just as our principal allies the Italians, Japanese, and Ozzies continue to re-arm and reinvigorate their amphibious capability.
The new Italian ship Trieste looks utterly fantastic. The UK would have been better far off with two or even three similar ships than the empty QE’s.
Side note: Germany is standing up a 4th division. It’s a reserve formation, but still.
So the German Navy will have 13 Frigates, 12-15 U boats, and 10 corvettes, while the German Army deploys a Brigade to Lithuania, and maintains 2 armoured divisions, a light division and a reserve division at home.
Sadly Daniele you up are dead right. Use of plural (aircraft carriers, frigates, submarines, helicopters, etc) in a MOD press release usually means two, but the hope is that media will still assume its some vast WW2 type armada.
As a school boy in the 1970’s I was ships mad and used get a subscription to Navy News as an Xmas present. The Feb or March issue would always have a big photospread covering 3 Commando Brigade’s annual deployment to Norway. This would typically involve an amphibious TG consisting of a Commando ship (Hermes or Bulwark), Assault Ships (Fearless and/or Intrepid), 3 or 4 LSL’s and a few STUFT ferry’s – at least ten ships. Providing close escort to the Amphibs would be the destroyers and frigates commanded by (for example) FO 1st Flotilla. Separately, FO 2nd Flotilla would command a surface action group, flying his flag on the cruiser Tiger or Blake, whilst FOCAS flew his flag on Ark Royal, the carrier group providing distance cover and even taking out Soviet airfields. Finally, SSNs and SSK’s under FOSM, plus RAF Nimrods and Shackleton’s held the GIUK gap. In total around 15,000 personnel, 40 major ships and submarines, and over 120 aircraft and helicopters directly involved – almost all British and almost all RN/RM/RFA. And this wasn’t a maximum effort exercise conducted every 4 or 5 years, it happened annually until the end of the Cold War. Also noteworthy is the number of seagoing roles that genuinely justified a Commodore (then a temporary rank) or Rear Admiral.
Great listing.
I was a young schoolboy late 70s so don’t recall it first hand, but of course have read of these exercises.
I can verify all of the above, having deployed many a time with CHF (Then CHOSC) in support of 3 Cdo Bde. Ex Clockwork (Annual, hence the name) was the training phase, done in the Tromso area, followed by Ex Pendulum south, which was further south and the locations varied. We would take at least 6 A/C to each location and would recover via Ex Cold Winter on Fearless/Intrepid/Ark/Illustrious or Invince. The whole malarky would take could take up to 5 months, kicking off in Nov/Dec for survival/Arctic maintenance training/flying and recovering to UK around March time. Happiest of times 🙂
It would be remarkable if this ‘journal’ stopped being a mouthpiece for Govt and instead, delivered some journalistic critique of the press release.
The release itself is pants and borders on sophistry and should be called out, as Daniele rightly did. Well done Daniele.
I do agree and it is rather rich for Government Ministers and MP’s to call for tightening up on social media platforms spreading misinformation when they are blatantly spreading lies themselves.
Very much so.
I enjoy debunking them immensely.
The truth? You can’t handle the truth….
I have had more than one comment removed here from diverting the government line. My favourite when I diverted from the official line of women in the services especially in submarines. You would think they would take a look at my username and perhaps think I might know something.
It was probably removed because you where being abrasive and trolling, plenty of comments remain up that “divert from the government line.”
Also, as you know perfectly well, you can change your name on here easily. Just because you put a male or female name here says little about your gender presentation or lived experience in real life.