British Military Pictures & Videos

The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) conducted a parade on Saturday, 4 August, to celebrate the formal amalgamation of the 1st and 2nd Royal Tank Regiments, as it reorganises as part of Army 2020. Hundreds of family and friends and former RTR personnel watched the event in Bulford, Wiltshire, which was attended by Lieutenant General Chris Deverell MBE, Colonel Commandant of the Royal Tank Regiment. Highlights of the parade were a working model of a First World War MK IV tank from the film War Horse and a dramatic smoke-filled dash across open ground on to the parade square by five Challenger 2s. Lieutenant Colonel Nick Cowey MBE, 41, Commanding Officer of the RTR said: “It’s a day of both sadness and happiness of course and as General Deverell said it’s partly about looking back and commemorating the history of all the antecedent regiments but more than that it’s about looking forward.“So my main emotion today is about celebrating the Royal Tank Regiment and the huge honour that it is that we will, as the sole remaining tank regiment, take forward the good name of the Royal Tank Regiment into the future.”

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“Somewhere in the world NATO forces are patrolling a no-fly zone in order to prevent a hostile force from committing atrocities. A Royal Navy jet is targeted by a surface to air missile forcing the pilot to eject.” The traditional pyrotechnic fuelled Commando Assault finale to the RNAS Yeovilton Air Day began. As flying displays go it was continuous fast and furious action which included numerous specialist skills and disciplines such as abseiling and fast roping which when combined with the gunfire and pyrotechnics, provided a realistic and crowd pleasing show.

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International Development Secretary Justine Greening said:

“The world has been shocked by the plight of the Yazidi community. They face appalling conditions, cut off on Mount Sinjar after fleeing persecution by ISIL extremists.

“The UK has acted swiftly to get lifesaving help to those affected. L ast night the RAF successfully dropped lifesaving UK aid supplies, including clean water and filtration devices, on the mountain.”

On Friday 08 August, Justine Greening announced £8 million in new assistance for those displaced in Iraq. This brings to £13 million ($22m) the total committed by the UK in response to the crisis. The new funding includes:

• £2 million of emergency humanitarian supplies for 75,000 people, including aid that can be air dropped to help those trapped in the Sinjar Mountains as quickly as possible. Supplies will include reusable filtration containers filled with clean water, tarpaulins and basic shelter equipment, and solar lights that can also recharge mobile phones to enable communication;
• £3 million of fast-tracked funding that will go to charities and NGOs who are already on the ground and helping displaced people in northern Iraq. This will go via DFID’s Rapid Response Facility, which has now been activated to deal with the crisis;
• £2.5 million of support for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide immediate medical and humanitarian assistance; and a further £500,000 that will ensure Kurdish and UN systems are able to coordinate and respond to humanitarian needs in the region.

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RAF Tornado jets are to be sent for possible use in the aid operation in northern Iraq, where many thousands of people are fleeing Islamist fighters.

The Ministry of Defence said the planes would leave RAF Marham in Norfolk within the next 48 hours.

The bombers will not have a combat role, but could carry out surveillance to assist delivery of aid supplies.

Here, the prime minister is resisting pressure to recall Parliament to debate a military role in the Iraq crisis.

David Cameron's spokeswoman said a recall was "not on the cards", while Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond ruled out a combat role for the UK amid growing calls for military involvement.

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• [h=2]Paratroopers go back to basics[/h]
  Regular and reserve paratroopers have gone back to basics as they train to become the British Army’s global rapid reaction force.
  
  Exercise Bruneval Assault has seen C Company, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) training in the tough environment of Sennybridge in South Wales, focussing on the core infantry skills of fire and manoeuvre and living in the field.
  
  The airborne infantry of Colchester-based 2 PARA were joined by a dozen reservists from 4 PARA. The week-long exercise took into the field a package of close quarter marksmanship training, designed to hone the soldiers’ skills with the SA80-A2 assault rifle. As well as practising live fire attacks, the troops tabbed – a fast march carrying equipment – up Pen Y Fan, the highest mountain in Southern Britain at 886m (2,907 feet).
  
  Major Mark Swann, Officer Commanding C Coy, said: “Coming to Brecon gives us a chance to test what we’ve learnt by doing fire and manoeuvre drills in a tactical scenario. It’s all very well being able to shoot accurately and efficiently on a static range, but the real test is to see how soldiers perform when they’re cold, wet and tired.
  
  “We’re also continuing to move on from Afghanistan, which has seen the Army used to operating out of static and relatively comfortable forward operating bases. As we prepare for contingency operations we are working back towards the classic paratrooper mentality of our soldiers being able to live out in the field and carry everything they need to operate on their back."
  
  2 PARA’s core role is to alternate with 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment as the lead unit in the Air Assault Task Force (AATF), which is ready to deploy anywhere in the world to conduct the full range of military operations. 2 PARA is training to take on the AATF role from March 2015, with the unit’s airborne infantry bolstered by artillery, engineers, signallers, medics and logisticians from 16 Air Assault Brigade.
  
  Images by Cpl Andy Reddy; Crown copyright