'Fight tonight': Paratroopers practise recce-strike on Exercise Rhino Bizz at BATUS in Canada

Airborne soldiers have been training in Canada to rehearse how they would 'fight tonight' and win on a battlefield dominated by drones and electronic warfare. 

16 Air Assault Brigade joined forces with Canadian troops for Exercise Rhino Bizz at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) to drill the recce-strike system of fighting. 

Recce-strike is about getting ahead of the enemy by tracking and destroying them before they can attack friendly forces. 

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Working with the Canadians 

It combines reconnaissance and strike platforms in an AI-enabled network to identify and destroy targets faster and further away. 

Roughly 350 British and Canadian soldiers took part in the two-week exercise, with the main unit being from 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (2 Para), backed up by artillery, engineers, signallers, and medics from 16 Air Assault Bde. 

A heavy weapons company from 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (3PPCLI) added to the force's firepower. 

"The British Army is evolving rapidly to increase our lethality for future operations," 2 Para's Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Craig Shephard said.

"We are learning from current battlefields around the world, adopting the latest technology in partnership with industry, and adapting how we will fight."

Drones and electronic warfare on the battlefield 

Troops are utilising drones to locate their adversaries and electronic warfare to find signals and jam GPS and radio communications. 

Once a target is found, it can be struck using attack drones, mortars, Javelin anti-tank missiles, or infantry assaults. 

The soldiers have been operating two systems during their recce-strike training. Cain is the communications network that links soldiers, sensors and weapons together. While Cobalt uses AI to combine and analyse all the information gathered. Through these systems, personnel are able to make battlefield decisions quicker. 

"Exercise Rhino Bizz is a demonstration of how we are ready to 'fight tonight' using technology that is available now and allows us to find and strike the enemy further away, faster, more precisely and – more importantly – first," Lt Col Shephard added. 

"But any hardware and software can only be as good as the people operating it. 

"Soldiers have learnt to build and code electronic equipment, fly drones, and programme AI systems; and they have applied their tactical skills and experience to make the best use of emerging technologies."