British Army Gears Up For Biggest Military Exercise Since The Cold War

The United Kingdom is sending 22,000 British Armed forces personnel from her three military services, the Royal Navy, Royal Air force and the British army who will deploy 19,000 soldiers, contributing the majority of the 22,000 service personnel under deployment orders.

This video follows the British Army as it deploys to Europe in one of the biggest movement of British troops, vehicles and equipment in many years.

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This is Kendrew Barracks, located in the historic county of Rutland, England. British Army soldiers from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment are preparing to deploy to Europe from Marchwood Military Port to the German port of Emden. They are taking part in NATO’s largest set of military manoeuvres since the height of the cold war,

Called Exercise Steadfast Defender 2024. The soldiers are getting Foxhound, Jackals and Coyote TSV military vehicles ready to be driven 150 miles to a waiting ro-ro ship docked at the Sea Mounting Centre, Marchwood Military Port near Southampton, United Kingdom. The soldiers form part of NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force’s (VJTF).

The VJTF role currently falls to the British Army’s 7th Light Mechanised Brigade Combat Team, affectionately known as ‘The Desert Rats’ who assumed the role from the Germany Bundeswehr at the beginning of 2024. The VJTF is a spearhead force, it would basically be the very first rapid responders to any real

Life threats to European security. The Task Force also includes 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and troops and capabilities from eight other NATO allies. Today the task force, including these 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment soldiers

Are part of deployment manoeuvres called Exercise Brilliant Jump two.  It’s designed to test the logistical challenge of sending overseas vast numbers of troops and vehicles at short notice and within exacting time frames.  The United Kingdom is sending 22,000 British Armed forces personnel from her three military

Services, the Royal Navy, Royal Air force and the British army who will deploy 19,000 soldiers, contributing the majority of the 22,000 service personnel under deployment orders. Although precise numbers of vehicles, ships and aircraft is not disclosed, we know the

UK has sent a carrier group led by HMS Prince of Wales and her air group of F-35B Lightning jets and helicopters. The RAF are deploying F-35B Lightning attack aircraft and Poseidon P8 surveillance aircraft. The British Army is deploying many hundreds of tanks, artillery,

Helicopters, surveillance and logistic support vehicles. It is likely to be Great Britain’s largest military deployment exercise since the end of the Cold War. With the assistance of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), the vehicles and equipment have arrived in Germany. The next stage is to transport all these vehicles

And equipment to Poland for Exercise Dragon 24.  Troops from the Desert Rats flew into Sennelager via paderborn lippstadt airport, Germany, to meet up with soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment at dockside in the Port of Emden, supported by 17th Port and Maritime Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps,

Together they will transport vehicles and equipment over 621 miles to Polands Drawsko Pomorskie Training area.  Troopers from 2nd Royal Scots Dragoon Guard will fly directly to Szczecin airport, Poland to attend Exercise Dragon 24. With the logistical challenges set by Exercise Brilliant Jump Two almost complete, British

Troops will be joined by Albanian Armed Forces at Staging Area Vanguard at Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area in Poland where they joined Polish troops, as well as NATO allies Spain and Turkiye, these soldiers are part of the British led Alliance’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) .

“It’s massive, in terms of the whole NATO exercise…” “We’re fairly good at getting ourselves integrated. Despite the language barrier, soldiers tend to be fairly similar across the world” NATO Allies France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, and United States have also deployed, gathering to take part in Exercise Dragon 24, a Polish-led multinational exercise, involving 20,000 soldiers

From 10 countries, including 15,000 soldiers from the Polish Armed Forces. During the first stage of the exercise, Polish and U.S. military engineers using bridge laying systems enabled freedom of movement for a NATO multinational armoured force marching more than 300 km along two corridors, crossing streams, ditches and canals to reinforce the

Rapidly deployed spearheading force, the British led Very High Readiness Joint Task Force This multinational armoured marching column was now facing its biggest Challenge as they approached the mighty Vistula river near Korzeniewo, Poland. Fortunately for the huge Armoured column, soldiers from the unique German-British Amphibious Engineer Battalion 130 have deployed with 27 M3 Amphibious Bridging Vehicles (M3 Rigs), to Poland’s Vistula River. Battalion 130 engineers are aware that the

First leading group of heavy armour and scouting vehicles are approaching their pre-planned crossing point and will begin launching their M3 Rigs The battalion, including 23 Amphibious Engineer Squadron Royal Engineers, is an unusual unit in that both British Army and Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) soldiers serve side by side.

They are the only unit in NATO to have this particular wide wet gap crossing capability. The British Army Logistics operation continued, this time deploying heavy armour. The British army is sending an undisclosed number of AS-90 155mm self-propelled howitzers and 51 Challenger

2 main battle tanks. It is the largest deployment of these tanks for many years. The army may have secretly deployed some challenger 2 tanks by rail, via the Euroterminal in Dover, a logistics exercise that was previously conducted several years ago. We do know twelve main

Battle tanks were deployed from strategic storage placement in Germany. The majority however were transported by ro-ro ferry ship.  Thanks for watching