Hardy British military personnel braved temperatures of -30 degrees centigrade as they embarked on special cold weather training. The troops have been deployed to Norway to get used to enduring Arctic temperatures as they learn the basics of survival in extremely harsh regimes.
As war rages in Ukraine, intrepid Joint Helicopter Command personnel were put through their paces at Cold Weather Survival Training Operation Clockwork’s annual environmental training.
They are based at a site 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle on the Royal Norwegian Air Force base at Bardufoss.
Frosty participants experienced a range of activities undertaken at temperatures that plummeted as low as -30C.
The Cold Weather Aviation Operators Course or CWAOC delivers a week-long training package consisting of two days classroom/practical demonstration lessons before five nights of teeth-chattering field training.
It is during this that the service personnel learn to live in 10-man and four-man tents, navigate, build and defend harbour areas – in bitterly cold conditions.
Their final night out will be a survival night where they are given minimal kit and must survive by way of building either snow or brushwood shelters.
In addition, they will conduct the ice-breaking drills where in the event of falling through ice into a lake or river, they learn to be able to control themselves and get out of the water unaided.
Earlier this month, hundreds of British Royal Marines and Army Commandos also conducted extreme cold weather training alongside allies in Norway ahead of Exercise Nordic Response.
Minister for the Armed Forces, James Heappey, said: “The UK and Norway’s close alliance was forged through adversity in the darkest days of the Second World War, when British commandos were key to challenging the occupation of Norway by Nazi forces.
“Today our enduring relationship is more important than ever, and our joint activity in the High North both increases our collective readiness and sends a powerful message of deterrence to Putin’s forces.”
Every year, members of the UK Commando Force travel to Norway, in partnership with personnel from other militaries, to rehearse cold weather fighting techniques in a range of training scenarios, from high-intensity warfare to terror threats and mass demonstrations.
