0 >Lt Col. Thomas Fogh, Deputy Commander of the NATO eFP Battlegroup in Estonia and (right) Col. Paul Clayton, eFP commander. Source: NATO eFP
The NATO Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup based at Tapa rose to challenges presented by the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic and maintained its readiness and capabilities, its commanding officers say.
Col. Paul Clayton of the British Army, commander of the eFP, said Monday that: We undoubtedly rose to the challenge of COVID this year, and kept to our exercise schedule, including cross-border exercises like Furious Axe, in Latvia. We completed the integration of the UK-led NATO battlegroup into the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) 1st Brigade, thus becoming an integral part of the collective defense of Estonia, Col. Clayton went on, speaking at a press conference.
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A brave Tayside veteran is celebrating after helping a Scottish charity to destroy more 1,000 explosive devices in Iraq this year.
Montrose-born Frank Philip, 61 has spent the year dodging danger in the country, which has been ravaged by war since the US and UK-led invasion in 2003 to remove leader Saddam Hussein.
Former soldier Philip – who now lives in Kinloch Rannoch in Highland Perthshire – returned to Iraq to lead the fight against deadly landmines as Dumfries-based HALO Trust’s programme manager in Baghdad.
Edited by: A. N.
On October 7, in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was paying an official visit to the United Kingdom, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Andriy Taran and the UK’s Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace signed a memorandum on enhancing bilateral cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres (President.gov.ua, October 7; see EDM, October 29). An important aspect of this document was a funding pledge from the UK’s export credit agency in the amount of 1.25 billion pounds ($1.68 billion) for the construction of missile boats and new naval infrastructure in Ukraine.
Missile boats and naval bases are critically important to Ukraine’s capacity to deter an enemy as well as respond in a crisis in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. These capabilities are crucial to Ukraine in this closed maritime theater considering Russia’s overwhelming superiority when it comes to anti-ship missiles. At least eight UK-designed missile boats eq
Comet Interceptor (Credit: Thales Alenia Space)
SWINDON, UK (UK Space Agency PR) Design work will soon begin in the UK on the spacecraft for a new European Space Agency science mission, which will 3D-map a comet for the first time,
Thales Alenia Space, who have three sites in the UK and employ nearly 200 highly skilled engineers and scientists, have won one of two parallel mission study contracts for the design concept of the mothership and a smaller robotic probe for the European Space Agency (ESA) Comet Interceptor mission. Design work is also taking place in Italy.
The mission will see one main spacecraft and two smaller robotic probes – the other built by the Japanese Space Agency – travel to an as-yet unidentified comet, and map it in three dimensions.
UK is celebrating 30 countries joining the Global Ocean Alliance in support of the UK-led 30 by 30 initiative, to protect at least 30% of the global ocean in MPAs International Marine Minister, Zac Goldsmith thanked and commended the 30 countries that have now joined the Global Ocean Alliance Our shared ocean is facing unprecedented pressures, and together we are making a powerful case for increased protection
Some thirty countries have now joined the Global Ocean Alliance championing an international commitment for a minimum 30% of the global ocean to be protected through Marine Protected Areas by 2030.
At the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, the UK again reiterated its commitment to protecting the environment and halting biodiversity loss.