British Royal Marines Train in Arctic Drills as Russia Reinforces Its Northern Presence

Royal Marines wrapped up ten days of Arctic warfare drills in Norway’s fjords, testing their ability to launch and sustain amphibious operations under extreme conditions, the British Royal Navy said on October 10.

The Arctic Tide exercise, held in Troms County, was designed to simulate a rapid allied response to a potential invasion in Northern Europe.

British commandos and their Norwegian counterparts practiced landing troops from sea, securing beachheads, and maintaining supply lines with ammunition and food deep behind enemy lines.

The drills are part of Tarassis—the largest training series in the 11-year history of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a coalition of ten nations ready to respond to regional threats across Northern Europe.

Some 350 British troops, including Royal Marines and sailors, arrived aboard the support vessel RFA Lyme Bay, while Royal Navy patrol ships operated simultaneously in the Baltic Sea. The main focus was on the Taunton-based 40 Commando, which carried out amphibious landings and tested new logistics methods for resupplying dispersed forces across Norway’s rugged terrain.

Commander Aaron Revell, who led the amphibious task force, said: “Joint Expeditionary Force partner nations have responded to rapidly developing threats by planning and exercising a wide variety of response options.

Exercise Arctic Tide, which sits within the much larger ’Tarassis’ series of concurrent exercises, has rehearsed the UK Commando Force’s ability to conduct advance force and shaping operations in the High North and Arctic.”

He added that he was “especially proud” of the 350 personnel who used advanced and uncrewed technologies “to covertly project several small but highly effective teams at long range from the sea, and sustain them for extended operations.”

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Major Al Hewett, second-in-command of the Commando Logistic Regiment, highlighted the vital role of logistics: “It is easy to regard logistics as the backdrop to warfighting, but history repeatedly proves it is decisive.”

The exercise allowed the regiment to test both conventional and modern resupply systems in one of the world’s harshest environments, ensuring the Royal Marines remain combat-ready in the Arctic.

Earlier, Denmark’s Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) reported increased Russian gray-zone activity in the Danish Straits, a strategic maritime passage connecting the Baltic Sea to NATO waters.

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