A member of the Royal Logistic Corps inspects a row of Foxhound patrol vehicles ahead of them being loaded onto sealift ship, MV Hurst Point (Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)
Hundreds of army vehicles from the UK have been deployed to Romania as part of a Nato exercise.
A total of 730 vehicles have been sent for the first deployment of Nato’s Allied Reaction Force.
The vehicles left from ferries at the Sea Mounting Centre in Marchwood, Hampshire, bound for the Greek port Alexandroupoli.
This has been carried out ahead of Exercise Steadfast Dart 25 – which is aimed at showcasing Nato’s ability to mobilise at speed across Europe.
Alongside the army vehicles, a total of 2,434 UK personnel will travel by truck and plane to Romania.
Nato vehicles and troops will travel by different methods for the 2,300km journey to and from Romania, such as by sea, land and rail, to test Nato’s ability to deploy under pressure.
This exercise marks the first deployment under the bloc’s new Allied Reaction Force (ARF).
It replaced the Nato Response Force last year to deal ‘swiftly and effectively’ with ‘any threat in an evolving security environment’ during peacetime, crisis and conflict.
Two regiments will form the principal battlegroup and be supported by an array of other UK and allied military units (Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)
The aim is to practice a major deployment of land, sea and air forces across Europe.
This will be followed by the troops joining with the Romanian armed forces for the country’s annual defence exercise.
Colonel Jim Beere said: ‘This is significant for the UK, as this is the first ever time the Allied Reaction Force has deployed and the UK is providing the land component command which means we are providing the army – or land – component to that.
‘We have created some of our own challenges through the mechanism of our deployment on purpose because this really is a test of the UK’s, and Nato’s, ability to deploy at very high readiness in response to crisis.
‘So we are employing sea, land, air and rail mechanisms which creates friction when you are travelling across multiple countries in Europe.’
The exercise marks the first deployment under the bloc’s new Allied Reaction Force (ARF) (Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)
Corporal James Hartley, 38, from Cardiff, is involved in vehicle support services and said: ‘For us it is a day-to-day job but with this larger scale, it’s a lot more vehicles, a lot more movements, it’s quite challenging but we get the job done.
‘We do this day-in day-out, but not on this larger scale.’
Armed forces minister Luke Pollard said: ‘This Government wants the UK to be Nato’s leading European nation.
‘Exercise Steadfast Dart demonstrates our unshakeable commitment to Nato and highlights the UK’s key leadership role in the alliance.
‘As we approach the three-year anniversary of Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we must continue to strengthen our collective defences together to deter (Russian president Vladimir) Putin effectively.’
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