The British Army has recently completed a two-week long exercise, named Winter Camp, in Estonia, as part of the UK-led Nato Battlegroup.
This was the last exercise scheduled under Nato’s enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup Estonia Rotation 11, which was led by the British Army’s King’s Royal Hussars (KRH).
The training activity saw the participation of 30 Challenger 2 main battle tanks (MBT) from the UK, a Leopard 2 tank squadron from Denmark, and forces from France and Estonia.
It saw multinational troops train in extreme cold weather conditions, which provided them with an opportunity to showcase their combined arms skills and capabilities.
The UK has been deploying its Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, and Challenger 2 tanks attached to an armoured battlegroup, for the rotational tasks in Estonia since 2017.
The six-month rotating deployments, also referred as Operation Cabrit, are based in the Estonian town Tapa.
Operation Cabrit commander colonel Dai Bevan said: “Exercise Winter Camp has been necessarily demanding and complex. It is the cementing of the eFP Battlegroup’s cold weather credentials.”
Following the completion of Winter Camp, KRH will now hand over eFP Battlegroup responsibility to the Queen’s Royal Hussars (QRH), one of the senior armoured regiments in the UK Army.
The QRH also operate Challenger 2 MBTs.
KRH commanding officer lieutenant colonel Will Hodgkinson said: “The ability to field three squadrons of MBTs, two of which are equipped with Challenger 2, has given eFP Battlegroup a real edge.”
The British Army is now working to acquire Challenger 3 MBT, for which the critical design review has already been approved ahead of the pre-determined schedule.
This capability is expected to deliver high lethality and survivability to Nato armoured forces until 2040.
