British soldiers on RWMIK patrol vehicles during the military drill. Credit: © 2020 Crown Copyright.

British Army 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team (BCT) Pathfinders have conducted military drills at the Stanford training area ranges, in Norfolk.

The training involved practising fire and manoeuvre tactics with RWMIK patrol vehicles, during the day and night. These vehicles were equipped with heavy machine guns and grenade machine guns for the drill.

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The troops also fired the NLAW anti-tank missiles.

A Pathfinders troop commander said: “Conducting reconnaissance missions in vehicles, which we refer to as ‘Mobo Ops’, means we can operate deep into enemy territory to set the conditions for the main force.

“Firepower is always a last resort, but the weaponry we carry is much heavier than an enemy would be expecting recce troops to carry, so we can fight ourselves out of any situation. It also means that we can strike targets of opportunity when they are least expecting to be attacked.”

Pathfinders are the 16 Air Assault BCT’s advance force, specialising in infiltrating behind enemy lines to find and relay vital information to support missions.

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The unit plays a key role in identifying drop zones and landing zones for air landing missions.

After completing initial reconnaissance missions, the Pathfinders support the main strike force or act as a decoy to support larger attacks.

The commander added: “The unit is all about highly motivated soldiers who are ready to deploy quickly and independently to execute whatever mission is asked of them, which, by enabling others to do their mission, means we punch well above our weight.”

The BCT is British Army’s Global Response Force. It specialises in air assault operations and remains in very high-level readiness to respond to global crises.

Last month, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that its military-related expenditure in Scotland totalled £1.99bn in 2020/2021.