Brits Prepare For NATO Deployment At Largest Gunnery Camp

Troops and airmen and women have been preparing for their role as part of NATOs Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in Northumbria.

Hosted by the 1st Artillery Brigade, Exercise Steel Sabre is the Royal Artillery’s largest annual gunnery camp.

It involves over 1200 soldiers as well as the RAF, Army Air Corps and huge amounts of vehicles and ammunition.

But as if that’s not enough, the Brigade have something else up their sleeve.

Exercise Steel Sabre brings together units from across the UK and the world as troops and air assets from France, Poland, Denmark, Estonia and the US descend upon Northumbria.  

"What we’ve really been doing this year is working out how closely we can and should work together. Firepower on the ground is matched in the skies above, with F15s, Typhoons, Tornados and Apache helicopters making this a fully integrated air and land exercise." 

But in some outbuildings on camp cutting edge technology enables the troops to go even bigger. 

In one corner, young intelligence corps reservists play the enemy, whilst across the room, their colleagues create simulated firing at precise grid references. 

Next door in what looks like an inflatable dome in a garage, the troops react to the battle that’s being created.  

The simulation dome is labour intensive, it takes around 100 people to create a battle for just 25 soldiers to practice, but those in command say the richness of training delivered is invaluable, and with recent tragedies during live firing, including the death of a young soldier at Otterburn just a few months ago, intensive training in a safe environment is crucial.