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UK Commando Force complete maritime special operations training with Navy SEALs in the USA
23 September 2026
Commando Force operators called in airstrikes and conducted vessel takedowns during three weeks of intensive maritime special operations training alongside U.S. East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare Operators (SEALs) in Virginia, USA.
The aim of the exercise – codenamed Resolute Strike – was to get the commandos and the U.S. SEAL teams operating seamlessly together and keep the UK teams ready for NATO operations.
This was done through night and day close-quarter combat scenarios, including boarding vessels and compound clearance, and concluded with a testing validation exercise embarked on the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24).
“Resolute Strike was not only an exceptional Maritime Special Operations training opportunity, but it also proved vital integration with our US partners, testing interchangeability of tactics, equipment, and processes,” said Major George Eatwell, Officer in Command of M Company, 42 Commando.
“Whenever, or wherever we may fight alongside the US in the future, we are now better aligned at the operator level having built those lasting foundational relationships.”
Twenty-seven commandos from M Company and specialists from 148 Battery – who are experts in multi-domain fires and targeting – travelled to Virginia Beach after completing a month of training in sweltering southern Mississippi, carrying out riverine and jungle raiding in an immersive test of modern warfare.
Members of 148 Battery spent their time with SEAL teams at the Navy Dare Bombing Range in North Carolina, a remote 72 square-mile facility – roughly the same size as Wigan – which US forces practise air to surface bombing runs.
The UK commandos guided in attacks by F-18 Super Hornets alongside the U.S. East Coast-based SEALs, targeting area denial capabilities – such as surface-to-air missiles– and suppressing enemy air defences.
The completion of this complex workout means that 148 Battery are fully certified to support operations and maintain their very high readiness status.
Meanwhile, the team from M Company – who together form Special Operations Maritime Task Unit 9 and are required to maintain exceptionally high levels of readiness to deliver maritime special operations around the globe – focused on maritime interdiction operations alongside their SEAL counterparts.
SOMTUs are designed to be deployed around the globe, operating from hubs on land or from ships. They are able to operate independently or integrate with partner forces. Each SOMTU can provide one force protection team, two boarding teams and can be bolstered with specialist capabilities, such as scout snipers, uncrewed systems, dive teams, explosive ordnance disposal and electronic warfare.
After a phase of sharing tactics, the SOMTU and SEALs worked together on close-quarters battle objectives, being dropped in via helicopters under the cover of darkness to take compounds. In all, they carried out more than 20 missions in various close-quarter scenarios.
The training then moved onto a maritime phase, with assault team formed to conduct a vessel takedown at night. This training covered explosive and mechanical methods of entry and close quarters marksmanship.
The final week of training saw the commandos embark on USS Arlington and carry out a final intense mission on a US Navy target vessel, where two Black Hawk helicopters dropped a combined US/UK team onto a vessel to seize it.
With both the Commandos and SEAL Teams holding specialist Arctic capabilities for our respective nations, we’re now set to take this integration to climates colder this winter.