Hundreds of British personnel have joined allies in a major exercise spanning the North Atlantic, High North and Baltic Sea, as the UK strengthens cooperation around vital infrastructure and emerging security threats.
Exercise Lion Protector 26 involved maritime operations, amphibious landings and command exercises with partners from the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a coalition of ten nations supporting NATO security.
Royal Marines return to the Faroes
Royal Marines from the Special Operations Maritime Task Group trained alongside Danish forces in the Faroe Islands. It was the first exercise involving Royal Marines there since the Second World War.
The wider exercise also tested a multinational maritime escort in the Baltic, with ships and aircraft from Denmark, Latvia, Sweden and the UK escorting a Danish vessel carrying military equipment to Latvia. The UK’s Standing Joint Force Headquarters deployed north of the Arctic Circle in Norway to practise commanding allied forces quickly across a wide area.
The exercise took place as the Defence Secretary met counterparts in Keflavik, Iceland. Ministers discussed closer cooperation on hybrid threats, industrial collaboration, support for Ukraine and Canada’s application to join the JEF framework.
Why it matters for Britain
The North Atlantic and High North contain data cables and energy infrastructure that connect and power the UK. Training with nearby allies is designed to improve the protection of those networks and strengthen the UK’s ability to respond rapidly alongside partners.
