Paratroopers and rocket artillery came together in Sweden to give a potent demonstration of the reach, agility, and lethality of the British Army and its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies.
Paratrooper from B Company, 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment deployed on Exercise Swift Response seen boarding ATLAS C.1 A400M.
Paratrooper from B Company, 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment deployed on Exercise Swift Response onboard ATLAS C.1 A400M.
Paratrooper from B Company, 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, packed away his parachute after jumping from a United States A400 aircraft during Exercise Swift Response.
Paratroopers from B Company, 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, descended after jumping from a United States A400 aircraft during Exercise Swift Response.
British Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) from D Battery, 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, fired a reduced range practise rocket (RRPR) for their raider “M” mission for a first time along side the United States Forces Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HMARS) during Exercise Swift Response.
In an action-packed 24 hours, Exercise Swift Response showed different capabilities operating together to move far and fast and hit hard, with troops working to maintain the initiative and momentum to overcome the enemy.
Taking off from Royal Air Force (RAF) Brize Norton in two RAF A400M transport aircraft, B Company, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (B Coy, 2 PARA) jumped onto Gotland, a Swedish island strategically located in the middle of the Baltic Sea. On the ground, troops captured a road to use as an improvised airstrip – known in military jargon as a Temporary Landing Zone (TLZ).
Swift Response has really demonstrated how airborne forces can be used to seize the initiative, and then work with other capabilities to enable a much bigger effect.
Two powerful artillery systems – a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) from 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) from the US Marines’ 2nd Battalion 10th Marines – then arrived by air. The MLRS and HIMARS, which both fire guided missiles to strike targets at ranges beyond 70km, carried out a fire mission together, before flying out to join other training in Finland and Norway respectively.
With the artillery destroying enemy air defence, Dutch and US C130 transport aircraft were able to land on the TLZ and deliver additional troops, vehicles, and equipment to expand the foothold seized by the paratroopers.
The training ticked off some notable firsts. It was the first time paratroopers have jumped from an A400M into an overseas tactical exercise after taking off from the UK, showing our ability to project forces in support of our allies; and the first time MLRS has fired in Sweden and alongside HIMARS.
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hitchins, 2 PARA’s Commanding Officer, said: “Swift Response has really demonstrated how airborne forces can be used to seize the initiative, and then work with other capabilities to enable a much bigger effect.
“It has been an important milestone to use A400M for the overseas projection of airborne forces and a good opportunity to develop relationships with our NATO allies. We have long had a close partnership with US airborne forces, with 2 PARA out on a battlegroup exercise in the USA last year, but we have worked with different US units, as well as Norwegian, Swedish and Dutch troops.”
You get to see how other countries’ armies work and understand their capabilities and test your own skills in different environments.
Before jumping into Gotland, B Coy 2 PARA had trained in Norway with the US 82nd Airborne Division. American paratroopers had flown across the Atlantic to parachute in to capture an airfield, with British paratroopers flying in on an RAF A400M transport aircraft as reinforcements. After carrying out a joint attack, the British troops flew back to RAF Brize Norton to reset for Sweden.
Both elements of the exercise represented realistic missions for the paratroopers as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, the British Army’s global response force.
Corporal Kieran Daniels said the pace and variety of the training had been rewarding.
“We’ve bounced between the UK, Norway, and Sweden, and it’s always good to do these multinational exercises,” he said. “You get to see how other countries’ armies work and understand their capabilities and test your own skills in different environments.
“For me, a big takeaway has been that as paratroopers we punch above our weight. The high standard that we have all had to meet to serve in The Parachute Regiment, and the individual skills that we have developed, give us an edge.”
The training is one element of the US Army Europe and Africa-led Exercise Swift Response, which 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team's has participated in every year since 2015. This year’s iteration sees NATO airborne forces training together to deliver five co-ordinated airborne operations in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.
Exercise Swift Response is one of several activities taking place this spring in Northern Europe under the banner of Operation Razoredge, supporting NATO’s eastern flank. In total, 13 NATO allies will carry out exercises in six countries with 16,500 allied troops and 6,000 UK troops.
