NATO exercise culminates in daring helicopter assaults

5 sept. 2014 British Army

Eighty British troops have combined forces with other NATO allies in a series of day and night assaults. The purpose of the operation, part of Exercise SABRE JUNCTION, was to destroy a simulated enemy radar site.

Flying into action in US Chinooks and Black Hawk helicopters, troops from 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment carried out the assault in tandem with other attacks against simulated enemy airfields across several East European countries.

Exercise SABRE JUNCTION is part of a wider NATO exercise and one of a host of immediate assurance measures designed to reassure NATO allies in the region. It follows UK deployment of Typhoon aircraft to the Baltic Air Policing Mission. More than 1,300 troops from the Lead Armoured Battle Group will deploy to Poland for Exercise BLACK EAGLE in October.

Major Dave Jones, the Officer Commanding the Duke of Lancaster’s troops on the exercise, said:

“This helicopter-borne night attack is the culmination of a terrific exercise in which we have learnt to operate intimately with US infantry and air cavalry. My soldiers have risen to the challenge of operating in a multinational environment, and it’s exciting to be involved in an exercise that is designed not only to improve our operating capability but also reassure our NATO allies.”

The annual exercise is held across Germany, Latvia and Poland, and this year includes around 5,000 personnel from the USA, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia – together with NATO Partnership for Peace nations Sweden, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.