By road, rail, sea, and air, the British Army’s global response force has travelled to Estonia as part of major training to build NATO forces’ ability to operate side-by-side.
British Army vehicles of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team (16 AABCT) await cross-loading at the Poland-Lithuania border onto the trains taking them to Tapa, Estonia, where they will prepare for the Joint Forcible Entry (JFE) as a synchronised element of the NATO Exercise Steadfast Defender.
A soldier of 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment (1 R IRISH) oversees the vehicles of the British Army’s 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team (16 AABCT) awaiting cross-loading at the Poland-Lithuania border onto the trains taking them to Tapa, Estonia.
13 Air Assault Sustainment Regiment are ensuring the right vehicles are in the right location for 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team (16 AABCT) training as the British Army’s global response force in the NATO exercise Steadfast Defender.
More than 2,000 troops and 500 vehicles under the command of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team (16 Air Asslt BCT) have travelled across Europe to take part in Exercise Steadfast Defender. The training will see a force of more than 2,300 soldiers, sailors and aviators from four NATO countries working together under the BCT’s leadership to practice how they can respond together to international crises.
Getting the force across Europe to the exercise’s start line has tested 16 Air Asslt BCT’s readiness, expeditionary mindset and logistic skills.
Logistics planning officer Major Tom Joyce said:
“Force projection is always challenging and this has been a real test of our logistics professionals. Planning how to move the force and sustain it along the way, and then executing that efficiently, is vital so that troops, vehicles and equipment arrive on time, ready and rested for the main event.
Using different methods of transport has given us experience and knowledge of all the available options if we have to deploy into Europe in support of our allies.
“Using different methods of transport has given us experience and knowledge of all the available options if we have to deploy into Europe in support of our allies.”
The troops deploying are from the 3 PARA Battlegroup, built around the airborne infantry of 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment supported by artillery, engineers, logisticians, medics, and signallers from 16 Air Asslt BCT, with 4 Regiment Army Air Corps Battlegroup (4 AAC BG) providing attack, reconnaissance and support helicopters.
Starting from Merville Barracks in Colchester, some 300 vehicles – from police cars to fuel tankers - set off for the 1,500-mile drive to Estonia. The journey took seven days, passing through six overnight camps set up in five different countries. A further 200 vehicles were moved by rail, crossing the English Channel by ferry to be loaded on to trains at Calais.
A key point in the journey was crossing the Polish-Lithuanian border at Suwalki, where there is a 40-mile-wide corridor of land between the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus. The British troops’ movement east through the strategic bottleneck, which included a gauge change for the trains, was co-ordinated with other NATO units moving through the area.
Lance Corporal Zac Rands, of 156 Provost Company, 3 Regiment Royal Military Police, is at the wheel of a Land Rover on his first overseas exercise since joined the Army last year.
“It’s been a very interesting experience, and a lot of the younger soldiers like me haven’t driven in Europe much before,” the 20-year-old said.
“As a driver you have to listen to the vehicle commander sat next to you, they are the one guiding you. We’ve gone through Holland and Germany into Poland so far, and I’m looking forward to the move on through Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.”
“When you are driving you are in a packet of about eight or nine vehicles, but when you get to a stop and see all the other vehicles you realise how many people and vehicles are involved. It’s quite a proud thing to understand the scale of what you are involved in.”
When you are driving you are in a packet of about eight or nine vehicles, but when you get to a stop and see all the other vehicles you realise how many people and vehicles are involved.
While stopped at a convoy support centre in Suwalki, Poland, Cpl Rands said:
“It’s important to make sure you get enough rest when you’re driving long distances and it’s good for everyone to get out of the wagons and speak to each other again. Everyone comes together and rank is almost diminished a bit. It’s a good morale boost before the next leg of the journey!”
The majority of soldiers flew out for the exercise on RAF Voyager transport aircraft, with the Apache attack helicopters, Wildcat reconnaissance helicopters and Chinook support helicopters of 4 AAC BG flying out separately.
US and Polish troops are also converging on Estonia for the exercise. An initial period of preparatory training will build the joint force’s skills and relationships before it deploys by parachute, helicopter and airlanding to practice seizing a foothold against armed opposition.
The manoeuvres in Estonia are one element of the US Army Europe and Africa-led Exercise Swift Response, which 16 Air Asslt BCT has participated in every year since 2015. This year’s iteration sees 13,000 troops from 17 nations training together in eight countries – stretching across Europe from the Baltics to the Balkans - to deliver six co-ordinated airborne operations across one week.
The training forms part of Steadfast Defender 24, NATO’s largest military exercise since the Cold War. Some 20,000 British personnel are among 90,000 troops from all 32 NATO allies training together to test and refine plans for reinforcing European defences against a near-peer adversary.