Royal Navy Preparing For Arctic Exercise

Four Royal Navy fast patrol craft will soon set sail on a 13-stop mission en route to Norway to participate in Exercise Joint Viking 2025 alongside other NATO forces.

The four constituent ships of the Royal Navy’s Coastal Forces Squadron (CFS) — HMS Blazer, Charger, Puncher and Trumpeter — will spend about two months at sea on the deployment.

A contingent of Royal Marines are also set to take part in Joint Viking, a Norwegian-led set of biannual manoeuvres that are set to be the largest military exercise in the country in 2025.

They will run from March 3-14 and around 10,000 troops from seven nations are so far set to participate. The exercise will include a night-time amphibious and large-scale ground-force landing; the main focus of activity will be in and around Troms County in the north of the country. 

The Norwegian Armed Forces website notes: “For the Norwegian Armed Forces and NATO to be able to defend our country, we must train regularly.

“The current security situation in Europe clearly shows how important preparedness and well-trained military forces are – especially for a long and strategically located country like Norway.”

It adds: “NATO is the foundation of Norway's defence. In order to be able to defend Norway, our allies must exercise on deploying to Norway. They must also know how to operate along with Norwegian forces in a harsh winter climate.

“We, and our allies, need to know our own terrain and conditions. This is fresh knowledge that needs to be trained on regularly. Northern Norway also offers great exercise areas, which makes this region well-suited for a major exercise like Joint Viking.”

The port of Harstad will act as the hub for the CFS ships’ participation in the NATO training. As per a recent press statement, as part of the exercise Royal Navy dive teams and mine warfare experts plan to carry out covert fjord surveys, insert raiding parties, and simulate threats to other NATO warships.

CPO Nicholas Brooks, Marine Engineer Officer of HMS Puncher, commented: “This unforgiving environment provides a unique opportunity for the team and whole crew to push ourselves, our kit and develop the way we operate.

“Operating in the High North always brings unique engineering challenges and we’re excited to see what this year brings.”

“Exercise Joint Viking 2025 is another fantastic opportunity for Coastal Forces Squadron to demonstrate their increasing capability across a range of roles and environments,” said its Commanding Officer Commander Carla Higgins.

“It also highlights our ability to work seamlessly side-by-side with UK and NATO forces as we continue to expand our dynamic and evolving nature of operations and tactics utilising the blend of both crewed and autonomous equipment.”

• You can read more details on the Royal Navy website and the Norwegian Armed Forces website