Exercise Joint Warrior: The largest military exercise in Europe
The largest multinational bi-annual exercise hosted by the UK is coming to a close. Here’s our top five moments.
Exercise Joint Warrior is the largest military exercise in Europe, bringing together the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the British Army, as well as forces from other nations.
🇬🇧 🇧🇪 🇨🇦 🇩🇰 🇫🇷 🇳🇱 🇳🇴 🇺🇸 🇵🇹 🇱🇹 🇦🇺
The exercise not only allows participating units to hone their specialist roles within a larger war-style setting but also helps foster vital links between the UK, NATO and other allied nations.
The aim is to provide a complex environment in which the participants can train together, honing tactics and skills in preparation for deployment as a Combined Joint Task Force.
Exercise Joint Warrior puts personnel through a range of realistic, simulated scenarios including crisis and conflict situations that could be encountered in operations, such as territory disputes, terrorist activity and piracy.
Here’s our top five moments: 👇
1. HMS Queen Elizabeth welcomed UK and US jets for major exercise 🇺🇸🇬🇧
HMS Queen Elizabeth embarked the largest number of warplanes ever onto her deck as she prepares to take her place at the heart of a UK-led NATO Carrier Strike Group.
Two squadrons of F-35B stealth jets, the RAF’s 617 Squadron and the US Marines Corps wake island avengers joined the 65,000-tonne carrier as she sailed for exercises with allies in the North Sea.
With a total of 14 jets and eight Merlin helicopters, it’s the largest concentration of fighter jets to operate at sea from a Royal Navy carrier since HMS Hermes in 1983 and the largest air group of fifth generation fighters at sea anywhere in the world.
2. The ‘Dambusters’ took to the skies with US Marine Corps ✈️
The jets from the US Marine Corps and the Royal Air Force took part in air-to-air combat scenarios before taking a pit-stop with the Voyager to refuel.
The Voyager provided a ‘petrol-station in the sky’ to support the jets offering fuel and enabling them to stay in the air for longer.
3. 847 NAS made history guiding the first ‘live’ F-35 bombing runs 📸
Garvie Island, a rocky outcrop off Cape Wrath at the north-west tip of Scotland was hit by two 500lb Paveway bombs, dropped by US Marine Corps pilots operating from HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Directing the bombing runs was 847 Naval Air Squadron, whose Wildcat helicopters provided wide-ranging battlefield support for commandos on the ground.
The training concluded with the Wildcats directing the naval guns of participating British and NATO warships against targets on the Cape Wrath range, known as Naval Gunfire Support.
4. UK Carrier Strike Group assembled for the first time 🌊
The Royal Navy’s new Carrier Strike Group assembled for the first time, marking the beginning of a new era of operations.
HMS Queen Elizabeth is at the centre of the group which is the start of joint carrier operations between the Royal Navy and its NATO allies.
Nine ships, 15 fighter jets, 11 helicopters and 3,000 personnel from the UK, US and the Netherlands have been carrying out exercises in the North Sea as part of Exercise Joint Warrior.
5. HMS Queen Elizabeth returned to Portsmouth following Strike Group debut 🚢
The aircraft carrier has been training in the North Sea as part of Group Exercise 2020 as she prepares for her first operational deployment next year.
Her time at sea, joined by Royal Navy warships, Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ships, F-35B Lightning jets, Fleet Air Arm helicopters and ships from the US Navy and Dutch Navy, saw the 65,000-tonne carrier achieve a number of ‘firsts’.
“Over the past few weeks the Royal Navy has achieved what many people said would be impossible.”
— Commodore Steve Moorhouse
This year’s second Exercise Joint Warrior took place between the 4th October and 15th October, enabling the UK Armed Forces and their allies and partners to continue to develop strong working relationships.
