By Colin Smeeton
There will be increased military activity in the Firth of Clyde and throughout Scotland over the coming days as one of Europe’s largest naval exercises continues.
Exercise Joint Warrior, a bi-annual event which takes place in spring and autumn, started on Monday and will continue until Thursday November 2.
The exercise will be delivered by the Joint Training and Exercise Planning Staff from the Royal Navy’s naval base in Portsmouth with events taking place in the Firth of Clyde, the north of Scotland and the North Sea where live firing is expected to take place at Cape Wrath and Garvie Island.
Joint Warrior is a UK-led multi-national exercise which sees NATO members joining the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and British Army for training.
The aim of the exercise is to provide a complex environment in which the participants can train together, honing tactics and skills in preparation for a deployment as a combined joint task force and to ensure maximum preparedness in the face of any future threat.
During the exercises, people on Arran are often able to catch sight of vessels, aircraft and submarines which make use of naval bases in the Clyde, as well as Hunterston and Greenock ports and Prestwick Airport.
In the spring Joint Warrior exercise earlier this year, more than 20,000 personnel took part from 10 nations – the UK; Canada; Denmark; France; Germany; the Netherlands; Norway; Spain; Poland and the USA with more than 30 ships, two submarines and multiple aircraft ranging from maritime patrol and fifth generation fighters to a troop transporter.
An Astute class nuclear submarine with the Type 23 frigate HMS Kent being over flown by a German Navy P3 maritime patrol aircraft during a previous Joint Warrior exercise. No_B43JointWarrior01_23_submarine_plane_frigate