Author: Ian French
Photography: Ian French
Joint Warrior 2022 is the UK’s biggest military exercise and involved more than 11,000 sailors, soldiers and aircrew who waged a 12-day mock war around the British Isles. The exercise used to involve aircraft temporarily based in Scotland from many foreign nations, however those days are over and RAF Lossiemouth did not host any overseas participants this year.
The exercise is a naval one and involved more than 20 British ships and a handful of submarines as well as vessels from the US, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, France and Latvia.
In previous years the exercise was predominantly focussed on the waters west of Scotland but in 2022 forces faced each in both the North Sea off the coast of Scotland and the north-east coast of England as well as in the western Channel off Cornwall and Devon.
The aim is to provide a complex environment in which the participants can train together, honing tactics and skills in preparation for deployment as a Combined Joint Task Force.
RAF and RN Typhoons, P-8s, Wildcats and drones were used to hunt down and deal with submarine threats.