13 Chinook, Apache and Wildcat helicopters are heading out to support Exercise Wessex Storm.
Exercise Wessex Storm sees the 2 PARA Battlegroup training on Salisbury Plain to confirm its skills and readiness to serve as the lead infantry unit within 16 Air Assault Brigade, the British Army’s global response force.
Six of the best on their way. Well done to our incredible engineers. pic.twitter.com/RtZA8Az01P
— 18 (Bomber) Squadron (@18Squadron) December 4, 2020
The six-week manoeuvres started with live-fire training for the French and US paratroopers to introduce them to British training procedures.
#WESSEXSTORM
664 Sqn are ready to launch on EX WESSEX STORM, escorting and protecting our RAF brethren from @RAF_Odiham and @rafbenson.Challenging wintry weather for a mass aviation assault onto Salisbury Plain. ❄️
#flyfightlead @ArmyAirCorps pic.twitter.com/0A15TTIBgv— 4 Regiment Army Air Corps (@4RegimentAAC) December 4, 2020
The battlegroup includes a company of some 150 troops from the French 2e Régiment Etranger de Parachutistes (2e REP) and a 40-strong platoon from the US Army’s 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment.
At lunch time today up to 13 helicopters will be departing RAF Odiham heading out to support Exercise #WessexStorm.
The rotary assets departing may include #Chinooks, #Apaches and #Wildcats.
We hope we aren’t too noisy! We’d love to see your images if you see us overhead!
— RAF Odiham (@RAF_Odiham) December 4, 2020
The exercise builds up to a demanding simulated mission involving parachuting, rapid airlanding and air assault operations.
Dont envy them, not pleasent weather for manoeuvres.
Quite sunny here in Salisbury right now actually
The French Coy are normally based in Corsica I believe. Brass & monkeys springs to mind. Salisbury plain in the snow is absolutely Baltic with hardly any cover.
i wonder if the french will veto the exercise?
Seriously, after 7 years in Latvia, Salisbury Plain is positively BALMY, get them sleeves rolled up 😉
could be a lot worse. bit cold and damp but hardly extreme
UK cold and wet is far nastier than Arctic style deep snow. In the Arctic you can build snow holes and the cold, because it is so cold, is dry cold. In the UK the cold is wet cold and seeps into every joint. I hope that makes sense because it is true.
Yes it does.
The Specific Heat Capacity of cold wet air is far higher than that of cold dry air.
You also do not evaporate sweat in the same way as you do in dry air ending up with kit that is wet and damp and conducts heat away from the body when you are at a standstill. You can mitigate this with better kit but not solve it completely.
So yes I well know and understand exactly what you say to be true!
yes i get that, i lived in the cold NE of the US for 4 years and whilst temperatures got alot colder, it was drier and didn’t seem so bad. still, snow is rare and becoming rarer in the UK as are sub-zero temperatures. freezing fog is bad, i don’t remember freezing fog at all in the US
George they should be in Mali, not rusting in the UK! 😀 😀 😀
Always a decent exercise, plenty of assets normaly thrown at it.