A Troop of Royal Marines from 40 Commando stormed the County Hall in Taunton Town Centre to show off their capabilities in Vertical Assault.
The demonstration took place as a part of a wider study day, known as Project Urban Dagger, which looked into the Urban Operations capability of the Lead Commando Group.
The Marines used special ladders, ropes and scaling devices, which allow them to enter buildings from the top down.
The seven storey office building served an ideal training ground for the Marines to test out their kit and equipment.
Marine Edward Haskett-Smith said, ‘We’ve got some new kit today, so we’ve been using something... which is basically a motor, it moves you up the rope.'
He added, 'It’s much easier than having people at the top to pull you up or obviously climbing it yourself.’
Project Urban Dagger involved elements from across 3 Commando Brigade and studied a range of topics including Close Quarters Battle (CQB) training, Urban mobility and Surveillance and Reconnaissance using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or drones.
These capabilities are vital to the operation of the Commandos who can be deployed anywhere in the world as the UK’s only Very High Readiness Force.
The Commanding Officer of 40 Commando, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Maynard said, ‘Increasingly the battlefields are urban, because of the growth of urbanisation across the world, and that is where our adversaries are trying to drag us. We need to adapt, improvise and develop our skills to fight and win in that environment.’
A number of UAVs were also tested out at 40 Commando, including a surveillance and reconnaissance drone and a resupply drone which allows equipment of up to 50 kilos in weight to be delivered to the battlefield.
The drones, supplied by SteelRock Technologies, allowed the Marines to gain an insight into the most recent UAV and counter-UAV technology.
The study proved to be an interesting insight into the capabilities they may be seeing in the years to come.
