Military forces from the UK and other Nato allied and partner nations have commenced the multinational exercise Joint Warrior 22-2.
Joint Warrior is being conducted around the British Isles. The exercise, which commenced on 1 October, is being led by the UK Royal Navy (RN).
The 12-day drill involves participation of around 11,000 sailors, aircrew and soldiers from the US, Canada, Poland, Latvia, Norway, Germany, Denmark, France and the Netherlands.
Participating assets from the RN include 20 warships and submarines.
It includes three Type 23 Duke class frigates, HMS Kent, Northumberland and Somerset along with Type 45 or Daring-class destroyer HMS Diamond and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) tanker vessels.
The Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Typhoon fighter jets and long-range maritime patrol aircraft with around 30 aircraft are also participating in Joint Warrior.
During this war exercise, the maritime forces will engage in attack missions from above/on/below the waves.
Other scenarios include hunting down of the live submarines by aircraft, helicopters and anti-submarine vessels and handling enemies on the ground by the gunners of 29 Commando Royal and the US Marine Corps’ units.
Furthermore, the exercise planners will use ‘virtual’ drones simultaneously with live ones to test the response of participants.
HMS Kent commanding officer commander Jez Brettell said: “Exercise Joint Warrior is a fantastic opportunity to fully demonstrate HMS Kent’s wide-ranging capabilities in close consort with other RN units, ground units, air assets and multinational forces.
“Having recently proven ourselves at Operational Sea Training, the exercise is ideally timed to consolidate our training at the very start of our deployment so that we are ready for anything that may follow.”
