British Army troops belonging to 16 Air Assault Brigade have taken part in a training exercise called Exercise Eagles Flight 12 in Salisbury Plain, UK.

Exercise Eagles Flight 12 aims to enhance key skills required for the Airborne Task Force (ABTF), which ensures the Brigade maintains a force ready to deploy anywhere in the world at short notice to do anything from disaster relief to war fighting.

During the exercise, 16 Air Assault Brigade soldiers practised parachuting onto Salisbury Plain from the UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Hercules transport aircraft and Chinook helicopters, helicopter assaults and Rapid Air Landing (RAL).

A Company (A Coy) 3 PARA commanding officer major Richard Todd said the exercise enabled the soldiers to work on a number of air insertion techniques, which included learning the skills and drills on the ground and then rehearsing it in the air.

"These techniques are applicable to all operations we could be asked to do as the ABTF, from the benign situation of moving into a country to a hostile environment where we could have to seize an objective by parachute assault," Todd added.

The exercise also involved participation from troops belonging to 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, which prepares to take over as lead battlegroup for the ABTF.

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About 120 troops from Colchester-based A Coy, 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment parachuted onto the Everleigh drop zone before being picked up by helicopters to assault South Cerney airfield.

The parachute jump was an overhead assault, which saw troops carrying light equipment and weapons jumping from C130s flying at only 600ft from the ground.

Lance Corporal Mark Murphie said the training took the soldiers back to basics on parachuting and working with helicopters.