Cold Weather Response

By working together better in peacetime – through closer liaison during training – our amphibious forces will operate more effectively in actual operations

Commodre McAlpine.

Cold Weather Response11/01/2012

Britain’s amphibious commanders met their continental counterparts as Europe’s navies look to work ever-more-closely together. The gathering in Holland comes on the eve of a major international exercise in the snows of northern Norway – and the RN’s keynote amphibious deployment of 2012 later this year working with the French in the Mediterranean.

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Britians’s amphibious force commanders met their European peers ahead of major war games which will see the Royal Navy committed from the Arctic to the Mediterranean in 2012.

Imminent is NATO’s Exercise Cold Response in northern Norway, while later in the year the UK Response Force Task Group – the Navy’s principal sword, forged from assault ships, escorts, helicopters and the elite ‘punch’ of the Royal Marines – has the chance to warm up working alongside the French in the Med.

Longer term, the amphibious forces of five European nations – France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and UK – are looking to work more closely together.

To that end, Cdre Paddy McAlpine, Commander of the UK Task Group and Brig Martin Smith, 3 Commando Brigade’s Commanding Officer, headed to Den Helder to discuss the European Amphibious Initiative with their continental counterparts.

The initiative began a decade ago, seeking to enhance the ability of Europe’s armed forces to respond to a developing crisis.

Last year’s ‘Arab Spring’ prompted military staffs to plan possible operations, highlighting once again the need for rapid and effective deployment of amphibious forces.

Commodre McAlpine said:

“By working together better in peacetime – through closer liaison during training – our amphibious forces will operate more effectively in actual operations,”

“This is where multinational defence co-operation really makes a difference: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

“The UK’s amphibious forces have worked with Allies for many years, particularly the Dutch. This initiative enhances that cooperation, and improves our contribution to both NATO and Europe.

Brig Smith added:

“Currently, although amphibious forces of different nations operate together, procedures can differ. This initiative allows us to work better with our allies and helps them to work better with us.”

In recent months, the Royal Navy has carried out training with French marines – they joined HMS Bulwark for exercises in northwest Scotland – and Brig Smith headed across the Channel to observe the work of his Corps’ French counterparts.

In March, flagship Bulwark will lead the RN input to Cold Response, the regular test of NATO forces in the unforgiving frozen terrain inside the Arctic Circle in Norway, with green berets of 3 Commando Brigade working alongside Dutch marines in particular; the Commando Helicopter Force is also heading north to practise its ability to operate at temperatures down to -30˚C.

In the autumn, the RN’s flagship deployment of 2012, Cougar, will head to the Mediterranean and work, inter alia, with the carrier FS Charles de Gaulle and a French assault ship as Britain and France look to develop the two countries’ Combined Joint Expeditionary Force.