Thousands Jump In Joint Forcible Entry Mission

Last night the skies above North Carolina's Fort Bragg were filled with parachutes as more than 2,100 soldiers jumped from scores of aircraft.

The mass insertion, conducted in two waves, saw 950 men from the UK's 3 PARA Battlegroup join forces with the US 82nd Airborne Division in a Joint Forcible Entry mission.

As well as the troops, RAF and USAF C-130 Hercules aircraft dropped weaponry, supplies and vehicles.

Now on the ground the teams face several days of intensive combat mission simulations as they attempt to 're-take' a hostile airfield.

It's all part of the largest US/UK joint exercise for 20 years - JOAX.