British Paratroopers jump into Japan

British paratroopers have successfully earned their Japanese parachute wings, demonstrating the capability of British airborne forces to operate in conjunction with Pacific allies.

A contingent of 25 troops from the 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, a global response unit of the British Army, participated in training exercises in Japan alongside Japanese, American, and Australian paratroopers.

Exercise New Year Jump facilitated the multinational paratroopers’ proficiency in utilising Japanese parachutes and executing air assault missions from Japanese Chinook helicopters. The BCT’s Pathfinders, an advanced force, honed their skills in parachute jumps utilising Japanese freefall canopies, in coordination with their Japanese, American, and Australian counterparts.

The British Army add here that the training culminated with a combat demonstration in front of a large audience at Narashino, a training facility located on the outskirts of Tokyo. The multinational force was inserted by helicopter and parachute and successfully carried out an attack on a simulated enemy position, supported by tanks and attack helicopters.”

Bombardier Chris Kearney, of 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, was one of 400 paratroopers to jump in. He was quoted here as saying:

“I had a fantastic view of Tokyo, which is just vast, and it really felt like we were jumping into the middle of the city. Mount Fuji was on the horizon, and it was all quite distracting, so I had to make myself concentrate on my landing drills! It was really interesting to go to Japan, on the other side of the planet, to find that their paratroopers were doing the same role as us and had done the same training with similar equipment. Even with the language barrier, we worked together easily and got along very well – I think that’s because we all have that shared experience of jumping out of an aeroplane.”

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