The RAF unit driving Soviet-era missile systems in the Arctic Circle to act as the 'bad guys'

To best prepare for an aggressor, allied aircraft must learn to evade threats from both the air and the ground.

The job of playing the enemy on land falls to the 'Threat Emitter Team' – a specialist unit normally based at RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria, who are playing the 'bad guys' with the use of their two Soviet-era missile systems.

Together with the US and the Germans, they have been hiding in forests in northern Sweden, creating the enemy 'Red Force' during Exercise Arctic Challenge.

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The unit from RAF Spadeadam has taken the SA6 and SA8 ground-to-air missile systems all over the world, preparing militaries for a Soviet-style aggressor.

For Exercise Arctic Challenge, there are about 10 of these systems spread out across northern Sweden – operated by the British, the Americans and the Germans, working together to play the aggressor.

There is a wealth of experience and knowledge here, shared between nations.

Senior Master Sergeant Holger Brecht, German 'Enemy Force', told Forces News: "I was trained with the East German armed forces 30 years ago and I now use this knowledge and additional information we get from our intel – how the systems are used nowadays in enemy countries, and we try to replicate these tactics for the training of our pilots."

The RAF this year joined 13 other nations to complete one of Europe's largest air exercises. 

Arctic Challenge is a complex multinational exercise – hosted by Sweden, Finland and Norway – which saw more than 3,000 troops and 150 aircraft converge in the High North.

It happens every two years but, the last time it took place, Russia had not attacked a European nation and, in turn, this year the focus has switched to offensive operations.