Tri-Service
From The Balkans To The Gulf: Exercise Albanian Lion
A demonstration of Britain's strength at sea with international partners - that's how the Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has described Exercise Albanian Lion.
The exercise, in its fifth year, has been taking place in the Adriatic and the Persian Gulf, and involves British forces teaming up with their Albanian counterparts.
Over 2,000 British troops from the Royal Navy, the RAF and the Army are working closely together alongside 250 Albanian troops to prove their operating capability.
The amphibious task group is headed up by Commodore Andrew Burns, who’s commanding proceedings from HMS Bulwark.
She has deployed on exercise along with two other warships (HMS Ocean and RFA Mounts Bay) and eight helicopters.
Numerous landing craft are also taking part in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines biggest deployment of the year so far.
The exercise is part of the wider Joint Expeditionary Force Maritime, or JEF (M), 16 deployment, and after the exercise in the Adriatic, the group will move on to the Persian Gulf.
Brigadier Jim Morris is in charge of the Royal Marines once have hit land:
“We are the force that will eventually go ashore to deliver whatever effect it is we are asked to do. So whether it is the soft end of things, as we have seen earlier this week with a non-combatant evacuation operation, through to some of the punchier stuff that we can do in commando forces”.
With everything from open water to rivers and from steep mountains to beaches, it’s been a welcome opportunity for the two nations to hone their skills ahead of their next deployments.
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