Tri-Service
Royal Marines In Exercise Black Alligator
One thing the United States is not short of is space. So in order to hone their fighting skills, and allow the unparalled use of firepower, the Royal Marines have headed to California's Mojave Desert.
For the next 6 weeks more than 1000 Royal Marine Commandos and Reservists are swapping rainy Plymouth for some of the harshest training conditions available.
Don't Try This At Home: Royal Marines Show Off Close Combat Skills
The annual Black Alligator Exercise sees the men of 42 Commando join their US and Dutch counterparts to test the full range of their armouries.
Conducted on an all-terrain US Marine Corps exercise area eight times larger than Salisbury Plain they'll be firing 105mm field guns, heavy machine-guns and Javelin anti-tank missiles.
More From Forces.tv: 42 Commando Practice Urban Warfare Skills
Offering a level of training unavailable in the UK and backed by Viking armoured vehicles the Royal Marines will take part in live firing, urban combat drills and conduct a Battlegroup-sized live-fire Commando raid.
Played out in the extreme heat of the desert Black Alligator complements the Commando Group's specialist training in cold weather warfare in Norway and jungle warfare in Gabo.
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