13 Nov 24. British troops hone urban warfare capability in Kuwait on Exercise Iron Shield. Soldiers from 3 Rifles have been training alongside their Kuwaiti counterparts to mark 125 years of diplomatic relations between both countries.
British soldiers have been honing their urban warfare capability as they train with the Kuwaiti Army on Exercise Iron Shield.
The troops have also been taking part in mounted and dismounted battle tactics in the Gulf state alongside members of the Kuwaiti 94th Mechanised Brigade.
Iron Shield coincides with the 125-year anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between the two nations.
The UK military played a key role in the liberation of Kuwait in the Gulf War of the 1990s and British forces assembling in the country ahead of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Officer Commanding 3 Rifles Major Stephen Watts said: “I think they see that we bring a lot of different skills, so our use of urban tactics is far more advanced.
“We’ve also really done a lot of drone work here with them, so we’ve taught them how to fly small uncrewed aircraft systems.
“As we know, the region has its problems and upstream defence engagement exercises like this where you could bring the Kuwaiti armed forces alongside the UK you could practise warfighting in an exercise context.
“So [it’s] really important from a long-term defence engagement perspective.”
Members of the British Army’s 3 Rifles are training their urban warfare capabilities with the Kuwaiti 94th Mechanised Brigade
The serial included troops clearing a village in the desert from insurgents using the Kuwaiti Army’s Sherpa armoured vehicles and going from building to building.
Rifleman Kieron Power said: “As you’re looking at the urban village there’s so many threats.
“The highest casualty rate comes from urban, so you look at doors, windows and any entrances – long threats, short threats, so overall, it’s just a dangerous place to be.
“Working through the villages, you’ll realise how easy it is to obviously get hit so that’s why we train on it as hard as we can so we have to make sure our skills and drills are there.”
The riflemen have previously been part of the security force assistance unit but are now taking on the role of a tactical recce strike unit.
Part of this involves using technology like drones to help on the battlefield.
Troops from the UK and Kuwait training their weapons skills in the desert
Colour Serjeant Matt Davies said: “In an urban environment it is an absolute game changer. You can cover the areas where the guys can’t see.
“We’re using the drones for the reconnaissance, looking into the buildings before the guys get there so we can identify the enemy within the building, and it just builds the battle picture.
“The key thing with drones is it’s an asset, not an answer. The guys are still doing sketches conventionally.
“This is just another layer to build into the battle picture.”
(Source: forces.net)
12 Nov 24. Lack of readily available space leads UK to order mobile firing ranges.
In the invitation to tender, the Royal Navy acknowledged that there is “limited infrastructure” to support live fire training.
The Royal Navy has ordered three 100-metre, transportable, scalable, indoor firing range complexes to create space for annual Close Quarter Marksmanship training. Credit: Crown Copyright/UK Ministry of Defence.
UK Royal Marines will benefit from three portable, scalable and modular 100-metre indoor firing range complexes.
The order responds to the need for more live fire training space in the UK while also reducing the need for travel and subsistence on troops to use similar outdoor facilities.
There is an option to purchase more ranges within two years. The initial ranges will be delivered by the end of March 2025. An option is also included for the provision of up to ten years of maintenance and support for each complex.
In the invitation to tender (ITT), the Royal Navy acknowledged that there is “limited infrastructure” to support live fire training in some cases following a change in the operational shooting policy.
“The lack of readily available ranges places acute pressure on deploying units, increases the financial burden on operational budgets and reduces defence training estates range availability for other users with a lower priority.”
A more agile defence estate
As of 1 April 2024, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) claimed 342,000 hectares in land holdings, or 1.4% of the total UK land mass. This estate has reduced over the past year by 1,500 hectares, and again by 600 more in the year before that.
This is all part of the government’s aim to optimise the defence estate according to a strategy introduced in 2016. This involved ridding itself of idle sites and saving money in the longer term. In the end, the department aims to cut down the size of its estate by 30% in 2040-41.
Nevertheless, some use has been found for idle sites such as an old Army Barracks in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Rather than closing the site, Cawdor Barracks is being considered for use as part of the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability inititaive for intelligence-sharing among the trilateral AUKUS alliance
As Britain transitions from the relatively quieter years of counter-insurgency warfare to a new era of global strategic competition, one would be forgiven for thinking that the military require more space. Rather, the Armed Forces need to be more agile and to maintain a persistent state of readiness.
Military readiness
Britain’s military readiness has come into question for some time now. Even the Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey, has expressed concern that while the military is in a position to conduct operations, they cannot engage in a full-scale war.
Nevertheless, an MoD spokesperson assured Naval Technology that “all UK forces have access to the relevant training required to be held at readiness to protect the UK and meet our Nato commitments. This includes access to firing ranges.”
This state of readiness, when it comes to training, is seemingly minimal according to the Navy’s ITT which stipulates that personnel must perform close quarter marksmanship annually under the transition to live fire tactical training chapter.
Likewise, pilot trainees in the Royal Air Force are said to undergo lengthy holdovers in which little to no activity is required of them. This has reduced retention in the service as well as the wellbeing of students, according to findings from Ofsted, a UK education watchdog.
With the use of the new indoor range complexes from March next year, the Commandos will be able to conduct live fire activity up to 100 metres, by up to six dismounted users or one vehicle (no more than 3.4 metres high) with a pintle weapons mount.
Its function would be to provide a 24-hour capable, controlled environment in which weapons, ammunition and equipment firing and trials can also take place. (Source: naval-technology.com)
12 Nov 24. Pakistan and South Africa wrap up Special Forces exercise. Exercise Iqbal-I was held between 15 and 27 October at Cherat, Pakistan and comprised two combat teams from the Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group, and a team of South African Special Forces.
The Pakistan Army said the Commandant Special Operation School attended the closing ceremony on 27 October as the main guest while Colonel Solomon Lechoenyo from the South Africa Special Forces also witnessed the closing ceremony.
Troops “displayed highest standards of professional excellence during the conduct,” the Pakistan Army said, adding that the exercise was aimed at refining the drills, procedures and techniques involved in counter-terrorism operations through joint training, besides harnessing the historic military to military relations among the friendly countries.
Pakistan and South Africa hold regular military engagements – for example in August Pakistan’s Air Chief Marshall Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu spent six days visiting his counterpart in South Africa. South African and Pakistani military representatives have made numerous visits to each other’s respective countries over the years – notably, Chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), General Rudzani Maphwanya, visited Pakistan in July 2021.
In March 2017, South Africa and Pakistan signed a government-to-government defence co-operation agreement which included industrial co-operation. The Pakistani military has sent students to the Army College in South Africa while Pakistan accepted South African officers for staff college training. Pakistan has also trained South African personnel in special forces roles. In 2019 the SANDF said around 40 South African commanders were trained in Pakistan. This included counter-terrorism training. (Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/)