British and French airborne forces train together

26.06.2014 by British Army

Exercise Tears of the Sun, which took place this week in Toulouse, France, is a key interoperability exercise between 16 Air Assault Brigade and 11e Brigade Parachutiste (11e BP), which is at the forefront of closer military co-operation between Britain and France.

Both brigades are rapid reaction forces, held at high readiness to deploy on operations anywhere in the world. They form the Intermediate Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (I-CJEF) for contingency operations, ranging from disaster relief to war fighting, The concept, brought about in early 2013, has been developed by both the French and the British forces over the last 18 months and this exercise provides an opportunity for both armies to plan and fight, side by side .

Helicopters from Joint Helicopter Command, as well as French aircraft, bolstered the two airborne infantry battlegroups to provide a potent fighting force that was exercised in a number of different scenarios. Tears of the Sun gives both nations’ troops the chance to work through a theoretical joint mission, further understand their similarities and differences and prove that they are able to operate alongside each other.

16 Air Assault Brigade is the British Army’s largest brigade with some 6,200 soldiers, combining the speed and agility of airborne and air assault troops with the potency of Apache attack helicopters.

Photos gallery

Follow 16 Air Assault Brigade on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/16AirAssaultBrigade?fref=photo