Royal Irish Regiment work with US and Bulgarian troops

The British Army say here that C Company 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment has taken part in Bulgaria’s annual military exercise, Platinum Lion 22, at the Novo Selo training area alongside the host nation and United States Armed Forces.

“The joint training began on 15 July, lasted two weeks and involved nearly 450 military personnel and around 90 pieces of equipment. The aim of this year’s exercise was to test and increase Allied nations’ ability to conduct a defence operation as part of a multinational joint operational force.

During the tactical exercises, troops from 1 Royal Irish trained together with Bulgarian soldiers from the 42nd Mechanized Battalion – Yambol, 2nd Mechanized Brigade – Stara Zagora, 2nd Mechanized Brigade – Karlovo, two tank platoons from the Specialist Training Center – Sliven, as well as a mechanized company from the United States Armed Forces.”

The British Army say that soldiers got hands-on experience with each country’s weapons systems. This included opportunities to fire the Bulgarian Land Forces AK-47 assault rifle, PKM machine gun, and MGS90 sniper rifle, the U.S. Army M4A1 assault rifle, M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, and M240L machine gun and the British Army’s L85A3 assault rifle and L7A1 General Purpose Machine Gun.

The Royal Irish Regiment troops arrived in Bulgaria in May 2022 as part of the UK’s ongoing commitment to developing and strengthening Bulgaria‘s defence and security.

Officer Commanding, Major Ben Jones, was quoted as saying:

“C Company was in Bulgaria to show solidarity with our NATO Allies and develop how we operate with each other’s forces. Exercise Platinum Lion was an excellent opportunity to do this and the Rangers of C Company have learnt much from the Bulgarian and American troops. We were immensely proud to serve alongside our Allies of the Bulgarian 42nd Mechanised Battalion and the US 1-8 Infantry Regiment on this exercise and throughout our deployment in Bulgaria.”

You can read more here.