Brit Royal Marines to be kitted with £10m fleet of battlefield snowmobiles for behind-enemy-lines Arctic war with Putin
BRITAIN is preparing for Arctic war by kitting out Royal Marines with a £10million fleet of battlefield snowmobiles.
Troops will use the powerful machine – dubbed Lynx Brutal – to knock out comms and allow access for allied warplanes, the Royal Navy said.
They would be employed by the UK Commando Force – the country’s specialist extreme cold weather troops, capable of fighting across the Arctic‘s hostile conditions.
As tensions between Putin and the West have ramped up in recent years, the Arctic has become an increasingly contested geopolitical area.
If Nato goes to war with Russia, Britain’s main role would be fighting in Arctic conditions, Armed Forces Minister James Heappey previously said.
Custom built to plough through deep snow and tough trails, the new Lynx Brutal is ideally suited for taking Commandos and equipment behind enemy lines at a quicker pace.
With a turbo-charged 180 horsepower engine and 37-litre fuel tank, the 250kg vehicles will give troops a tactical advantage as they carry out reconnaissance and raiding operations in the High North.
They have already been trialled by Marines – who traditionally move across the snow on skis, snowshoes or towed by armoured vehicles to get into combat.
But as the Commando Force’s battlefield tactics have evolved, smaller teams are being deployed across a wide area on special operations, the Navy said.
Successful strike ops will allow the UK’s F-35 stealth jets to operate with freedom from a Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier.
The £10million Navy investment will see the purchase of up to 159 of the Lynx Brutal Over Snow Reconnaissance Vehicles.
They are made by Finnish subsidiary of Canadian firm Bombardier Recreational Products – and will be supplied from March next year onwards.
The manufacturer said its “raw engine performance” and “unfailing traction” gives the snowmobile “unswerving capability to go in deep snow”.
Captain Nick Unwin, Commando Force Programme Director, said: “This is the next step in the transformational change taking place across the Commando Force in terms of what they do and how they do it.
“The Lynx Brutal is a well-proven vehicle operated by many partners and allies, and will play a key part in the Commando’s ability to operate in areas and in ways that are beyond the capabilities of conventional forces in the High North.”
The snowmobiles will deploy as part of Littoral Response Group (North) – a Royal Navy amphibious task force described as having “Commandos at its heart”.
The strike team is designed to react to events in Northern Europe’s waterways – including the complex Norwegian coastlines, the High North and the Arctic.
Royal Marines have just completed major military drills in the Arctic alongside Nato allies.
This is the next step in the transformational change taking place across the Commando Force
Captain Nick Unwin
They attacked vital infrastructure and carried out reconnaissance missions as they paved the way for large-scale Nato forces to move into the Nordic regions.
The commandos – led by strike teams of Royal Marines of Arbroath-based 45 Commando – tracked down enemy technology used to deny access to airspace and airwaves.
Their operations allowed HMS Prince of Wales and the UK Carrier Strike Group, including F-35B Lightning jets, to strike the enemy’s targets deep inland.
The Royal Navy say: “These missions were during Exercise Nordic Response as part of Steadfast Defender 24, Nato’s largest military drills in Europe in a generation, which tested allies’ ability to reinforce the continent’s frontiers from North America and across the Atlantic in the face of an aggressor.”
It comes after Royal Navy nuclear-armed submarine HMS Vengeance smashed the record for the longest voyage after 201 days at sea.
The vessel set sail on August 29 and didn’t return until six months and 18 days later in March.
The hero crew of submariners never set foot on land and spent most of that time submerged on a top-secret nuclear patrol.