TARASSIS, the Joint Expeditionary Force’s (JEF) largest exercise since its creation in 2014, is coming to to a close after two months of intensive activity, reaching from Iceland to the Baltic region and across multiple domains.
TARASSIS: The Commander’s take
The activity was a large scale, multinational rehearsal of JEF contingency response options covering the North Atlantic and northern Europe. TARASSIS brought together a series of military activities to demonstrate the ability of the JEF nations to act collectively and project power in response to a threat to regional security.
47 Commando rehearses insertion of Royal Marines in northern Norway
TARASSIS has been the JEF’s most ambitious demonstration yet, involving dozens of ships, aircraft, ground units, helicopters and allied UAVs, and converging with cyber specialists and space assets to prove integrated interoperability across land, sea, air, space and cyber.
Some important milestones were achieved: the JEF HQ in Northwood exercising operational control (OPCON) of the UK Army’s 11 and 8 Brigades; proving the capability of JEF nation air forces to land fast jets on public roads; and Latvia integrating its main national defence exercise – NAMEJS – with TARASSIS.
Latvian National Guard 4th Brigade
And for the first time, non-JEF NATO allies supported a JEF planned activity, with Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft contributing to activity in Latvia and Germany’s CTF-BALTIC HQ co-ordinating maritime escort activity.
A Canadian C130 lands in Latvia
On land, UK and Norwegian commandos braved tough conditions in the high north, mastering arctic warfare to demonstrate their ability to deploy and sustain themselves anywhere, while UK and Latvian teams employed innovative robotics and drones to gather intelligence and secure forward positions in the Latvian forests.
In the air, UK Typhoon fighters supported UK Commando Force raids by dropping live ordnance; Swedish Gripens and Finnish F-18s patrolled the skies and, with support from Canada, they rehearsed the ability to operate from Finnish and Estonian roads to demonstrate effective Agile Combat Employment.
Finnish Air Force F-18 fighter jets
At sea, Denmark, Sweden, Latvia and Germany supported a seamless, multi-domain escort of MV Anvil Point as she delivered UK military equipment to Latvia. The Royal Navy’s Archer class patrol boats also undertook passage exercises and more with Latvia, Estonia and Finland before contributing to Sweden’s major maritime exercise FALLEX.
Norwegian commandos with RFA Lyme Bay
Standing Joint Forces Commander Major General Thomas Bateman CBE, who also leads the JEF HQ, said: “Routed in the principles of NATO’s Article 3, we have continually honed our capacity for mutual aid and collective defence. We are increasingly resilient. Looking ahead, the JEF story continues with a deliberate annual programme designed to complement NATO.”
Next year, Lion Protector will advance the planning, integration and collaboration of the JEF nations even further.