Latest news with #AtlasA400M
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Paratroopers leave RAF Brize Norton for NATO exercise
Paratroopers at RAF Brize Norton have departed the Carterton station to take part in a multi-national military exercise. The paratroopers are involved in Exercise Swift Response, which aims to improve the rapid deployment capabilities and interoperability of NATO allies. The exercise, which runs until the end of May, will centre around the Atlas A400M aircraft based at RAF Brize Norton. Paratroopers leave RAF Brize Norton to take part in Exercise Swift Response (Image: Richard Watt/MOD Crown Copyright) Paratroopers leave RAF Brize Norton to take part in Exercise Swift Response (Image: Richard Watt/MOD Crown Copyright) These aircraft will play a crucial role in executing low-level parachuting missions with British Army paratroopers. The exercise will see the RAF working closely with NATO forces, including the US 82nd Airborne Division, to carry out concurrent airborne insertions. The RAF said this collaboration underlines its "commitment to maintaining operational readiness and fostering effective communication among allied forces". As well as the airborne operations, the exercise will also feature live-fire drills and innovative medical support advancements, such as the integration of drone-based blood resupply systems by the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The paratroopers will take part in Exercise Swift Response (Image: MOD Crown Copyright) The paratroopers will take part in Exercise Swift Response (Image: MOD Crown Copyright) A spokesperson for the RAF said: "This forward-thinking approach signals the RAF's dedication to enhancing logistical and medical support during high-stakes military operations." Exercise Swift Response 2025 is part of the broader DEFENDER 25 series, which aims to reinforce NATO's deterrence posture in light of evolving security challenges. The RAF's contributions are crucial in showcasing the alliance's commitment to collective defence and ensuring member nations can operate seamlessly together in multinational environments.
BBC News
15-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
WW2 Veteran turning 100 recalls memories of war
Most people don't get an RAF flypast to celebrate their birthday, but then most people are not former RAF men turning Jennings, a veteran of World War Two, will reach that significant milestone this weekendOriginally from Newmarket in Suffolk, Fred joined the RAF in 1943 where he worked installing radar systems into the B-25 Mitchell living in Lisburn, his friends at the Ulster Aviation Society have organised a weekend of special events which began on Friday when an Atlas A400M flew over the society's hangars. Speaking to BBC News NI ahead of his celebrations, Fred recalled when he was first dispatched to the Netherlands, "the Dutch had no radar people, so the air force lent them four from the RAF, one of which was me"."So there were eight foreigners amongst 98 Dutchmen," he the allied forces captured an airfield in Belgium, Fred was stationed at Melsbroek, now Brussels International said it was "an interesting period, including when we were attacked by Focke-Wulf 190's", a type of German aircraft."Fortunately I was outside the radar shack and saw them coming," he added."And right beside it was an unfilled bomb crater, which was conveniently dived into." After the war, Fred was posted to RAF Agra in India until he left the service."Every morning when I climbed the stairs in air traffic control, I just looked down the river, and there's the Taj Mahal," he the war, Fred got a job at the Ministry of Civil Aviation and in 1963, he was given a letter telling him to take the radars he was working on to Nutt's sure where Nutt's Corner was, he asked his boss who replied: "I think it might be near Birmingham."But it was the County Antrim airfield that Fred was bound for."Nutt's Corner was one of the first air radars to be installed in Northern Ireland, but it worked perfectly." Fred went on to settle in Northern Ireland and has been an active volunteer with the Ulster Aviation Society for more than 20 years. During that time, he helped put together a radio display room, as well as putting together the society's Burrows, chairman of the Ulster Aviation Society, described Fred as "an outstanding example of living history"."He has a very special place in our hearts and we wish him the happiest and most memorable 100th birthday," he part of the society's celebrations for Fred, the RAF organised a flyover of an Atlas A400M at the hangars on Friday. Reflecting on how it feels to be turning 100, Fred thought back on his time with the RAF saying he feels "a bit unhappy about it"."Unhappy in a sense that you feel you did quite a lot while you were attached, and suddenly it comes to an end," he for the secret to a long life he joked: "It's a matter of avoiding fast women and slow horses."
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
World's Largest Iceberg On Collision Course With South Georgia's Penguins
World's Largest Iceberg On Collision Course With South Georgia's Penguins. The world's largest iceberg is on a collision course with penguins in the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia. Images of the A23a iceberg taken from an RAF Atlas A400M aircraft as it flew a routine operation over the South Atlantic show the iceberg looming towards the geologically important island. Experts fear it could ground and shatter upon impact, endangering the island's unique wildlife, including colonies of king penguins and millions of elephant and fur seals. South Georgia's icy shores have faced such threats before. In 2004, the massive iceberg A38 grounded on the island's continental shelf, blocking access to feeding grounds and leaving countless penguin chicks and seal pups to perish. The iceberg A23a, which originally calved from Antarctica's Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986, became trapped on the seafloor and ensnared in an ocean vortex for decades. It finally broke free in December 2024, embarking on what experts describe as its 'final journey' into warmer waters north of Antarctica. Satellite imagery reveals the iceberg is steadily shrinking, its towering cliffs—once rising 1,312ft (400m), taller than London's Shard—are melting and disintegrating. Once covering an area of 3,900 sq km, it has reduced to 3,500 sq km, roughly the size of Cornwall. A23a could splinter into massive fragments at any moment. These floating cities of ice could linger for years, unpredictably drifting around South Georgia and posing ongoing risks to the island's wildlife.
