Playing opfor proved particularly valuable for the 250 or so members of Task Force Hannibal during Exercise Iron Storm on Salisbury Plain.
"We’ve been primed to act like Russian ground forces at all times,” Capt Mike Lindgren, Officer Commanding D Company, 5th Battalion, The Rifles, told Soldier.
“We’ve been practising and rehearsing after receiving very detailed briefs about how we should operate as Russians, which has been useful for everyone.”
The objective of their task was to help validate The Queen’s Royal Hussars Battlegroup as the UK’s lead armoured formation by providing a credible enemy during the month-long package.
“On the Tes system our Warriors have been configured to be BMP 2s, so we have anti-tank missiles, which Warrior doesn’t have, and a 30mm automatic cannon that isn’t as punchy as ours but can offer a high rate of fire,” continued Capt Lindgren.
“Because the Russians fight differently to us we’ve had to think a lot about how their armoured infantry companies would act, incorporating some of the latest observations from Ukraine.” The process had been “very educational” for all involved, concluded the officer.
