Exercise Griffin Strike kicks off

Over 5,000 French and British armed forces personnel are set to participate in Exercise Griffin Strike, to test the nations' Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF) capabilities, the UK Ministry of Defence announced on 10 April.

As part of the exercise, a UK-French headquarters will plan and execute air, sea and land activities, including a demonstration of sending of a tri-service force into an area of operations.

The exercise will demonstrate the CJEF's 'full validation of concept'. The CJEF has been developed since 2010 under the Lancaster House treaty. It aims to rapidly deploy French and British forces to conflict zones ahead of wider coalition or NATO operations for humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and peace-keeping.

Aircraft including the Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon will operate from RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire.

At sea, warships including HMS Duncan, Bulwark and Ocean will work off the south and west coast of England with French ships including FF La Motte Piquet, FS Cassard and FS Dixmude.

On the Salisbury Plain, army elements of the French 7th mechanised brigade and British 3(UK) division, including infantrymen, armoured units and paratroopers, will work together.

Simultaneously, over 3,400 NATO troops will exercise by air, sea and land during Exercise Joint Warrior, which will take place off the coast of Scotland. Four submarines, 22 ships and over 40 aircraft from 12 NATO nations and three partner nations will participate in the exercise. Participating nations include the US, Turkey, Sweden, Spain, Poland, Norway, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Finland, Denmark, Canada and Belgium, along with around 1,500 personnel from the British air force, army and navy.