Royal Marines have parachuted ‘deep behind enemy lines’ during demanding winter exercises in Sweden with forces from the United States Air Force, say the Ministry of Defence.
The elite Surveillance Reconnaissance Squadron of 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group were training alongside the Americans in capturing positions from the air from an adversary, giving allied forces a foothold in enemy territory.
The Ministry of Defence say that this is all part of the Norwegian-led Exercise Cold Response, which 15,000 troops from ten nations are involved in, including more than 2,000 Royal Marines and Royal Navy sailors.
“These Arctic exercises are designed to test the ability of allied nations in fighting in one of the most unforgiving regions on earth. The elite SRS Commandos and airmen from the United States Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) boarded an American C-130J Super Hercules from the 37th Airlift Wing at Bardufoss Air Station in northern Norway.
The crack force were then dropped into Kiruna Airfield in Sweden, where they were tasked with seizing the area from an enemy force. Following that the Super Hercules returned to Bardufoss to pick up the next wave of commando forces along with kit and equipment to support the mission in Sweden. After the initial phase of the exercises, the Royal Marines of Plymouth-based 30 Commando and American forces are now undergoing battle preparation in readiness for the next stage of the combined exercise.”
It is understood that the training is designed to demonstrate the capability of SRS as an elite advance force, capable of wreaking havoc and forging the way for much larger forces to enter into a disputed territory.
I know Sweden co-operated with NATO during the cold war but I haven’t seen anything like this before, though I doubt it’s the first time.
SRS. Maybe better known by the previous name, Brigade Patrol Troop, and previously Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre.
The RM equivalent of Pathfinder Platoon. People don’t expect the RM to have parachute capability.
Used to be pretty prevalent until it was massively scaled back in the corps.
Didn’t the commandos start off parachuting into France ect. I always thought they were trained for it but maybe not all these days.
In ww2 when they were created!
When the Commando role was created it was from Army units during WW2. And lots of the Royal lads have a set of wings on their arm, it’s an added useful capability, but which as others have said is a lot less than it used to be. Jumps course priorities are Para/Airborne lads as their are guys a year after P Coy plus still waiting for a place on the jumps course.
Actually it was BRF, the larger formation, made up of BPT, 148 Commando Bty & 59 Recce Troop
I miss those days of “putting my knees to the breeze”… (very BAD knees nowadays)…
Cheers!