Navy

Royal Marines Open Fire With Javelin & Anti-Tank Missiles

Royal Marines Conduct Live Firing Exercise With Javelin Missiles

Royal Marines from 45 Commando have been using state-of-the-art, next generation light anti-tank weaponry (NLAW) and Javelin missiles.

The Arbroath-based green berets missed out on the chance for live firing back in the spring because they were deployed with HMS Bulwark rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.

Six months later and their chance came at Otterburn ranges, outside Newcastle, and a week of non-stop firepower, beginning with machine-guns and ending with some tankbusting.

But as impressive as two gun lines of machine-guns hammering away are, the party piece of Exercise Black Storm was some live missile firing – three NLAWs, one Javelin.

Javelin can knock out enemy armour at four times the distance (about 2,500 metres or 1½ miles) of the smaller NLAW anti-tank missile.Marine Kev MacNeish said:

"There was a gasp of shock when the missile left the launcher and started curving off to the left, only for a sigh of relief to hit as the missile curled back towards the target after taking a dogleg."

More: Royal Marines Learn to Fire the Javelin

"All the fire support group had been looking forward to getting some valuable trigger time. This was a hoofing week and everyone left with high morale."

Below is some footage of soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment conducting a similar live-fire exercise with the FGM-148 Javelin Missile System in Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany: