Tri-Service
Heavy Weapons And Nasty Surprises For Soldiers
The final live firing test of Exercise Shamal Storm has seen 1 LANCS' Anzio company carry out an attack in the Jordanian desert.
1,500 British troops are taking part in Shamal Storm, an exercise aimed at testing Britain's ability to deploy a large armoured force.
The Kingsmen of Anzio Company travelled deep into the desert for their final live firing exercise. A complex company level attack.
It involves more than 100 soldiers, heavy weaponry, and three kilometres of unforgiving firing range.
As soon as they enter the exercise area the chaos of a real battle is simulated with a mock IED explosion.
The enemy is imaginary but the weapons and ammunition 1 LANCS are using are very real. Their CO, Major Rob Small, explains why.
"We're trying to achieve fire and manoeuvre. So we need a good amount of complexity on the ground to enable the troops to find cover and move in dead ground."
As troops begin clearing the valley the machine gunners and anti-tank units move to higher ground to provide covering fire.
1 LANCS Snipers also move up. Their long range rifles are able to hit targets 600 metres away.
In the valley the sections move through the range, clearing enemy positions as they go.
Just like a real battlefield this one hides a variety of threats. The range team have planted a fake IED beside the road. Lightning, a 7 year old explosives search dog, investigates and quickly signals to his handler Cpl Stuart Watson that he’s found something suspicious.
"All that's laid out there at the moment is wrappers of PE4. Which is a military grade explosive we use. They train on those back at the Defence Animal Centre in Melton Mowbray. We get them in the regiment, then we just crack on and do continuation training."
Once the IED is confirmed a team of route clearance vehicles arrive. For the purposes of the exercise they too are attacked and return fire with their remotely operated 50 calibre machine guns.
With mortars peppering the imaginary enemy Anzio finally reach their objective.
Next month 1 LANCS become the British Army’s Regional Standby Battalion.
They will be expected to deploy to any hotspot within range of Cyprus at a moment’s notice.
Exercise Shamal Storm has been about making sure these troops can do this for real.
Forces TV is available on Sky 264, Virgin 277 and Freesat 652.
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