Army logisticians, engineers, signallers, medics, police, and a multitude of other trades from 18 British Army Units, both regular and reserve have been taking part in a major training exercise called Exercise Austere Wolf to land a substantial force from the sea in southern Albania.
Operation Chelonia is a series of military exercises taking place within the western Balkans involving British forces. One of those exercises was Exercise Austere Wolf run by 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade which landed an entire Theatre Enablement Group (TEG) across a beach and into a former Soviet naval base at Pashaliman in southern Albania to establish a range of facilities and services to support a (in this case for exercise purposes, a notional) follow-on force.
A TEG is an agile, composite and tailored military formation that enables a manoeuvring fighting force to be projected forwards. For Austere Wolf this formation was designed and built around 17 Port & Maritime Regiment Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) and included a multitude of military trades and specialisms such as:
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Intelligence
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port operators and mariners
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vehicle and equipment mechanics
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clearance divers
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communicators
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fuel and transport
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supply chain logisticians
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specialist engineering teams
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military police
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field medical provision
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field catering
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ammunition supply
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a specialist mobile laundry and shower unit that can sustain a field hospital if required
It’s our opportunity to showcase that the UK can do this at a time and place of our choosing. The troops are going up against practical and injected exercise role-play challenges working out how to overcome them as they arise. From the experienced commanders having to integrate new teams and capabilities to the most junior soldiers gaining valuable time operating their equipment in austere conditions this exercise is a good challenge from top to bottom
All the equipment was brought to Albania from UK aboard the MoD’s 13,500 tonne roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessel, Hartland Point.
Typically, this would be discharged at a fully functioning port, the ramp would come down and the vehicles and equipment roll off in quick time; however, Exercise Austere Wolf set the scenario in which all this cargo would need to be landed into an ‘austere’ environment, hence its name.
For this to happen it required the services of the Mexeflote to conduct the last stage of the ship to shore passage.
The Mexeflote is a world leading modular motorised floating platform that can be deployed on the ship.
It be quickly constructed quickly on arrival then dock from the stern ramp of the ship into the sea, load with heavy military hardware (trucks, military engineering plant armoured vehicles right up to main battle tanks if required) and then ferry this across the sea to be landed on a beach.
To put the scale of this exercise into context, the Hartland Point was fully loaded with 2600 linear metres of vehicles and equipment from the TEG and the NATO Strategic Reserve Force; meaning that if parked up in one line it would measure 2.6 km long from start to finish.
The Mexeflote ship to shore transit operations were carried out by soldiers from 17 Port & Maritime Regiment RLC alongside their Army Reserve colleagues from Plymouth-based 165 Port & Maritime Regiment RLC, both part of 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade.
Speaking of their involvement in Exercise Austere Wolf, the Brigade’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Major Mark Player said :
“This is the last nautical mile of delivering a Land force into a theatre, conducted here by the Army and a critical step in establishing the TEG to receive the forces that will then be staged and projected onwards into the wider Area of Operations.”
It is the first time the paired Regiments have established this type of landing area in the region.
He continued: “We are simulating how we might need to operate in a real-world situation and doing it alongside our NATO allies here in Albania.
"We are enabling the training of our units and controlling how they are being tested from an artificial perspective, and then managing that dynamically against the real-time challenges posed by the setting and the environment here at Pashliman.”
Major Player said of the exercise:
“It’s our opportunity to showcase that the UK can do this at a time and place of our choosing.
"The troops are going up against practical and injected exercise role-play challenges working out how to overcome them as they arise.
"From the experienced commanders having to integrate new teams and capabilities to the most junior soldiers gaining valuable time operating their equipment in austere conditions this exercise is a good challenge from top to bottom.”
Exercise Austere Wolf in Albania is the latest example of the opportunities within the Army’s maritime trades: we currently have personnel in Australia, the Falklands, Cyprus, Africa, Singapore, and the USA.
Troops are always deployed worldwide – global soldiers delivering for UK Defence.