Members of 45 Commando are deployed from the Royal Navy’s amphibious assault ship, HMS Albion, under cover of darkness on Saturday.
The commandos sent their Inflatable Raid Ship, which can travel at up to 20 knots, through the waves to close the beach at Kaberneeme, on the north coast of Estonia.
The beach raid is just the latest in a series of planned scenarios with which the UK Armed Forces are exercising as part of a deployment of 14,000 troops from 11 NATO countries for Exercise. Spring Storm.
The beach raid scenario sees 45 Rangers confront the Estonian Armed Forces, with an Estonian naval missile unit acting as a target for the marines.
HMS Albion’s commanding officer, Captain Marcus Hember, said:
This exercise is a great proof-of-concept in demonstrating the versatility of amphibious ships such as the HMS Albion, enabling fast and lethal Royal Marines embedded in 45 Commando. us while being continuously supported by the ship and its crew.
We have demonstrated our ability to exercise with regional partners to add significant capacity and show that we can ‘show up when needed’.
X Company Commanding Officer, Royal Marines, Major Lee Stewart, said:
Crew support from HMS ALBION is critical to land operations, an integrated approach with both the Royal Navy and Royal Marines working as a team that makes war fall. set becomes efficient.
Two RAF Typhoon fighters were on site to provide air support, information, surveillance and reconnaissance during the exercise – enabling invaluable integrated training between land and sea. and in the air.
Members of the IX Squadron (Bombers) and their Typhoon planes currently stationed at Ämari Air Base, recently performed NATO air surveillance missions with Allied Germany – resulted in several intercepts of Russian aircraft transiting near Estonian airspace.
The commando drills provided a valuable opportunity for the Royal Marines to practice amphibious deployments, quickly infiltrating enemy territory to secure information, confuse the enemy or attack. high value goals.
More than 1,500 UK troops are currently deployed to Spring Storm, Estonia’s largest annual military exercise.
The UK maintains a continuous deployment in Estonia as part of a NATO commitment, known as Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP).
At last year’s NATO summit, the UK pledged to scale up its eFP commitment, with this year’s exercise marking the first time the UK has conducted a brigade-scale deployment to Estonia – with hundreds of employees involved compared to previous deployments.
The Secretary of Defense, Andrew Murrison – a Reserve officer with the Royal Navy – visited HMS Albion today to speak to Armed Forces personnel participating in the exercise. His daughter, Lt Sarah Murrison, is the Deputy Director of Logistics on board HMS Albion.
Minister of People’s Defense, Veterans and Families Served, Dr Andrew Murrison MP said:
Exercise Spring Storm in Estonia is strengthening our ability to work closely with our NATO allies in military operations and demonstrates our readiness for rapid deployment across all sectors. .
I am incredibly proud to have witnessed first-hand the hard work my daughter, those on board HMS Albion and everyone in our Armed Forces undertake to keep us safe, during and foreign.
