Latest news with #Hellfire
Miami Herald
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
NATO's Northern Flank Prepares To Counter Russia Threat
"Anywhere you are, you can see Russia when you're flying," Brigadier Nick English, commander of the British Army's 1st Aviation Brigade Combat Team, said as he strode through the snow and churned ground of Europe's largest training ground in northern Finland. "You're that close," he told Newsweek. But NATO is ready for whatever Russia may do on the alliance's northern flank, military personnel camped out in Finland's Arctic Circle say, despite concerns about how ready Europe's armed forces are for a fight with Russia and how long certain armies could hold out. Finnish, Swedish and British soldiers have been plugging away through joint exercises crafted to induct NATO's newest members into the alliance, live-firing howitzers and loading Hellfire missiles into Apache helicopters roughly 70 miles from the Russian border. More drills have been rolled out further south along NATO's eastern border, close to Russian soil, Belarusian territory and on Ukraine's doorstep. Finland, Sweden and the U.K. have pledged to raise military spending in the next few years, part of a drive across NATO to dedicate significantly more money to the military in the face of fierce criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump and burgeoning worries over what Russia could do next. Military officials across NATO countries are increasingly outspoken about the threat Russia could pose to the alliance once Moscow has had a chance to recover from more than three years of grueling war in Ukraine. Russia's invasion of its neighbor on February 24, 2022, has hacked away at the Kremlin's ground forces but left much of the rest of the Russian military unscathed. There are deepening concerns over where hundreds of thousands of battle-hardened Russian recruits, volunteers and conscripts will end up if a ceasefire deal is inked. Trump and senior officials in his administration have made putting an end to Europe's largest land war since World War II a foreign policy priority, albeit one increasingly frustrating to the Republican president. The Finns are certainly aware that Russia is expanding its bases close to its eastern border. The construction appears to be part of a longer-looking effort to expand Russian military facilities in spitting distance of NATO, The New York Times reported this week. Russia had about 20,000 soldiers and four standby brigades close to Finland before 2022, according to Lieutenant General Vesa Virtanen, deputy chief of the Finnish armed forces. A brigade is typically between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers. "Now we see that Russia is building new infrastructure and bringing more troops to this region as soon as they can," Virtanen told German newspaper Die Welt last month. "They are reorganizing themselves." In late 2022, then-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Kremlin would remodel Russia's military structure while inflating the number of service members over the next few years. Parts of the plan were to split Russia's Western Military District—close to NATO's eastern flank—into two districts, Moscow and Leningrad, and to grow the size of the military. This came into force in June 2024. When Finland joined NATO in 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that reestablishing the Leningrad Military District was a direct result of NATO increasing its presence on Russia's border. Finland's accession to the alliance doubled the size of NATO's border with Russia. The number of Russian troops based close to Finland could double or triple compared to before the war with Ukraine, Pekka Turunen, head of Helsinki's military intelligence, told Reuters in January. Intelligence assessments, including from Estonia just south of Finland, have warned that NATO could face a large and experienced, if less technologically advanced, Russian military in the next few years. A wavering U.S. commitment makes this possibility more likely, many suggest. Washington's ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, said in recent days that talks on reducing the vast U.S. presence in Europe would come in the wake of the alliance's upcoming summit in The Hague. The U.S. was not involved in this round of exercises in Finland, nor did it facilitate the drills. While there is a public confidence in the strength of the alliance, there are concerns about gaping capability gaps across Europe. Air defense systems and supplies, as well as ammunition, are among the most urgent. Related Articles India Ready to Raise US Oil Imports in Boost for TrumpTrump Nuclear Power Update as New Order May Bring Back Cold War-Era ActRussia Redeploys Nuclear-Tipped Air-to-Air Missiles in Echo of Cold WarWATCH: NATO Apaches Loaded With Hellfire Missiles Fire Near Russian Border 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Scottish Sun
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
Watch Brit troops blast targets with £50m Apache attack choppers in huge show of force on Vlad's doorstep in Lapland
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BRITISH troops blasted enemy targets with £50million Apache helicopters in a massive show of force on Vladimir Putin's doorstep. Soldiers in the Arctic Circle sent a carefully coded message to Moscow's mad tyrant, turning the home of Santa Claus into Europe's biggest military firing zone. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 British Army Apache helicopters fly carrying Hellfire missiles during Exercise Northern Strike in the north of Finland Credit: Ian Whittaker 7 Some 350 UK troops are completing hands-on drill with deadly ammunition, including missiles and rocket launchers Credit: Ian Whittaker 7 The £50million choppers blasted targets with pinpoint accuracy Credit: Finnish Defence Forces 7 Footage showed the strikes on military tanks in Lapland Credit: Finnish Defence Forces The British Army's top-of-the-range Apache choppers launched deadly Hellfire anti-armour missiles, smashing mock positions seven miles away at 1,000mph. Hellfires are used to hit high-value targets like enemy tanks because of how much damage a single payload can inflict. The Sun watched on as troops performed a complete refuel and rearmament of two Apache choppers, which can fly for two-and-a-half hours at 220mph, in just 40 minutes. British soldiers carefully loaded two giant 100lb missiles, carried by three troops at a time, as the pilots showed off how they can aim the chopper's 30mm machine gun simply by looking at a target. More than 350 UK troops are in Lapland, just 70 miles from Finland's border with Russia, where the sun shines virtually round the clock. Speaking from the remote Sodankyla Airfield, Air Trooper Alfie Giles, 19, told The Sun: 'The Hellfire is a very powerful weapon. I've seen the damage it can do up close, and it's a lot. 'They cost about £80,000. We would use them to eliminate tanks. 'If this hits a vehicle, the vehicle is destroyed. 'I loaded my first Hellfire during this exercise, and that's quite a big thing to do. All of that training we do here is very useful to take forward. 'It's a great feeling to actually get hands-on with the aircraft and the ammunition.' Putin visits Kursk just 35 miles from Ukraine for first time since recapturing territory with waves of suicide missions Air Trooper Molly McLelland, 19, added: 'Some of us haven't been out here before, so it's nice to get together and use this experience for the next deployment. 'Environments like this are so different to the UK. 'It's really important that we do this, so everyone has an understanding of what it could be like if things were to happen.' The aviation communications specialist said the drills could serve as 'a little reminder' to Russia of NATO's presence. She went on: 'We're aware of where we are, we're not trying to hide it, and we're all very aware of what's going on.' The extreme drills are part of preparation work for next year's exercise Razor Edge, where the UK will take a leading role. Brigadier Nick English, Commander of the 1st Aviation Brigade Combat Team, told The Sun: 'You can't ignore the fact that there's a land war in Ukraine, and part of the role of NATO is in deterrence. 'Finland has been doing this for a very long time, and living next to Russia for a very long time. 'This (drill) allows us to bring things that they otherwise wouldn't have access to.' He added that his unit's Apaches demonstrated Britain's 'unique' role in NATO. The Northern Strike drills are being run without any American presence amid US President Donald Trump's demands for European allies to stump up more money. 7 Apache helicopters take off at Sodankyle airstrip, Finland Credit: Ian Whittaker 7 Brit Major Joe Wooldrigde during the multinational air and artillery live fire exercise alongside Finnish and Swedish Armed Forces Credit: Ian Whittaker - 7 Finnish young conscripts on exercise Credit: Ian Whittaker - Dr English said: 'I think what you're seeing, importantly, is some of our best capabilities here. 'Whether that's rocket artillery, whether that's our attack helicopters, these are the things that Britain can uniquely contribute to NATO. 'We're bringing those capabilities that states don't have currently, and allow us to integrate them in.' British forces have been in Finland since the start of the month, but most were firing real chopper missiles for the first time on Wednesday. The chance to mount a full-scale practice assault only comes around roughly once a year. The brigadier added: 'The range here is big enough to allow us to fire missiles in a full scenario, which is what they've done. 'For some of my team, this is the first time. 'They're newly qualified, and this is the first time they fired Hellfire missiles. 'That actually gives them a phenomenal confidence, that from all of the training and practice that we give them, when they come here and try it for real, it all works.' Soldiers braved the Finnish 'summer' complete with snow, thick mud, and temperatures still below freezing. But Major Joe Wooldridge, of the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, joked: 'This is a typical summer's day for the regiment up in Northumberland. It's really important that we do this, so everyone has an understanding of what it could be like if things were to happen Molly McLelland 'We have quite a bit of experience in doing this from Estonia and other places with similar conditions.' 'We've been working closely with our Finnish colleagues to understand what the conditions are like now, what they were like a few weeks ago, and what they will be like for the rest of our time here.' British troops will also test rocket launchers later this week alongside 6,000 Finnish and Swedish soldiers. It comes after Vladimir Putin visited the Kursk region for the first time since his troops prised their land back from Ukraine in a long and costly face-saving mission. Vlad met with volunteer organisations on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, and marched around a nuclear power plant wearing a silly white helmet. He also said the Kremlin supported the idea of continuing monthly payments to displaced Russian families that still could not return to their homes.
The Irish Sun
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Irish Sun
Watch Brit troops blast targets with £50m Apache attack choppers in huge show of force on Vlad's doorstep in Lapland
BRITISH troops blasted enemy targets with £50million Apache helicopters in a massive show of force on Vladimir Putin's doorstep. Soldiers in the Arctic Circle sent a carefully coded message to Moscow's mad tyrant, turning the home of Santa Claus into Europe's biggest military firing zone. Advertisement 7 British Army Apache helicopters fly carrying Hellfire missiles during Exercise Northern Strike in the north of Finland Credit: Ian Whittaker 7 Some 350 UK troops are completing hands-on drill with deadly ammunition, including missiles and rocket launchers Credit: Ian Whittaker 7 The £50million choppers blasted targets with pinpoint accuracy Credit: Finnish Defence Forces 7 Footage showed the strikes on military tanks in Lapland Credit: Finnish Defence Forces The British Army's top-of-the-range Apache choppers launched deadly Hellfire anti-armour missiles, smashing mock positions seven miles away at 1,000mph. Hellfires are used to hit high-value targets like enemy tanks because of how much damage a single payload can inflict. The Sun watched on as troops performed a complete refuel and rearmament of two Apache choppers, which can fly for two-and-a-half hours at 220mph, in just 40 minutes. British soldiers carefully loaded two giant 100lb missiles, carried by three troops at a time, as the pilots showed off how they can aim the chopper's 30mm machine gun simply by looking at a target. Advertisement More than 350 UK troops are in Lapland, just 70 miles from Finland's border with Russia, where the sun shines virtually round the clock. Speaking from the remote Sodankyla Airfield, Air Trooper Alfie Giles, 19, told The Sun: 'The Hellfire is a very powerful weapon. I've seen the damage it can do up close, and it's a lot. 'They cost about £80,000. We would use them to eliminate tanks. 'If this hits a vehicle, the vehicle is destroyed. Advertisement Most read in The Sun 'I loaded my first Hellfire during this exercise, and that's quite a big thing to do. All of that training we do here is very useful to take forward. 'It's a great feeling to actually get hands-on with the aircraft and the ammunition.' Putin visits Kursk just 35 miles from Ukraine for first time since recapturing territory with waves of suicide missions Air Trooper Molly McLelland, 19, added: 'Some of us haven't been out here before, so it's nice to get together and use this experience for the next deployment. 'Environments like this are so different to the UK. Advertisement 'It's really important that we do this, so everyone has an understanding of what it could be like if things were to happen.' The aviation communications specialist said the drills could serve as 'a little reminder' to Russia of NATO's presence. She went on: 'We're aware of where we are, we're not trying to hide it, and we're all very aware of what's going on.' The extreme drills are part of preparation work for next year's exercise Razor Edge, where the UK will take a leading role. Advertisement Brigadier Nick English, Commander of the 1st Aviation Brigade Combat Team, told The Sun: 'You can't ignore the fact that there's a land war in Ukraine, and part of the role of NATO is in deterrence. 'Finland has been doing this for a very long time, and living next to Russia for a very long time. 'This (drill) allows us to bring things that they otherwise wouldn't have access to.' He added that his unit's Apaches demonstrated Britain's 'unique' role in NATO. Advertisement The Northern Strike drills are being run without any American presence amid US President Donald Trump's demands for European allies to stump up more money. 7 Apache helicopters take off at Sodankyle airstrip, Finland Credit: Ian Whittaker 7 Brit Major Joe Wooldrigde during the multinational air and artillery live fire exercise alongside Finnish and Swedish Armed Forces Credit: Ian Whittaker - 7 Finnish young conscripts on exercise Credit: Ian Whittaker - Advertisement Dr English said: 'I think what you're seeing, importantly, is some of our best capabilities here. 'Whether that's rocket artillery, whether that's our attack helicopters, these are the things that Britain can uniquely contribute to NATO. 'We're bringing those capabilities that states don't have currently, and allow us to integrate them in.' British forces have been in Finland since the start of the month, but most were firing real chopper missiles for the first time on Wednesday. Advertisement The chance to mount a full-scale practice assault only comes around roughly once a year. The brigadier added: 'The range here is big enough to allow us to fire missiles in a full scenario, which is what they've done. 'For some of my team, this is the first time. 'They're newly qualified, and this is the first time they fired Hellfire missiles. Advertisement 'That actually gives them a phenomenal confidence, that from all of the training and practice that we give them, when they come here and try it for real, it all works.' Soldiers braved the Finnish 'summer' complete with snow, thick mud, and temperatures still below freezing. But Major Joe Wooldridge, of the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, joked: 'This is a typical summer's day for the regiment up in Northumberland. It's really important that we do this, so everyone has an understanding of what it could be like if things were to happen Molly McLelland Air Trooper 'We have quite a bit of experience in doing this from Estonia and other places with similar conditions.' Advertisement 'We've been working closely with our Finnish colleagues to understand what the conditions are like now, what they were like a few weeks ago, and what they will be like for the rest of our time here.' British troops will also test rocket launchers later this week alongside 6,000 Finnish and Swedish soldiers. It comes after Vladimir Putin visited the Kursk region for the first time since his troops prised their land back from Ukraine in a long and costly face-saving mission. Read more on the Irish Sun Vlad met with volunteer organisations on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, and marched around a nuclear power plant wearing a silly white helmet. Advertisement He also said the Kremlin supported the idea of continuing monthly payments to displaced Russian families that still could not return to their homes.
Newsweek
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
WATCH: NATO Apaches Loaded With Hellfire Missiles Fire Near Russian Border
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. British soldiers have fired U.S. Hellfire missiles from American-made Apache helicopters in NATO drills just 60 miles away from the alliance's northern border with Russia. Two of the missiles were loaded on Thursday onto one of the recently received Apache attack helicopters on the ground at Sodankylä, a military base north of the Arctic Circle line in Finland's Lapland region. The Apache crews fired a total of 15 Hellfire missiles, including eight on Thursday, in drills crafted to get a feel for how the new and improved helicopters worked with the short-range missiles—plus the 30 mm chain gun—on targets just south of the airstrip. The 50-kilogram Hellfire missiles are small but pack quite a punch, designed to take out targets like enemy tanks. The Apache and Hellfire exercises are part of NATO training in the northernmost region of Finland, largely led by the Finnish military but beefed up by Swedish and British troops. British Army soldiers pick up a Hellfire missile to load onto a new Apache attack helicopter for military drills in the Arctic Circle in Sodankylä, northern Finland, on May 22, 2025. British Army soldiers pick up a Hellfire missile to load onto a new Apache attack helicopter for military drills in the Arctic Circle in Sodankylä, northern Finland, on May 22, 2025. Ellie Cook Finland and Sweden are NATO's newest members, with the live-fire drills rolled out in the austere conditions of training grounds. The soldiers in Sodankylä say they are aware of the proximity to Russian soil, but it is a thought mostly set aside for the exercises. Helsinki's accession to the alliance doubled Russia's land border with NATO, and the Kremlin quickly vowed to respond. Moscow previously committed to building up its presence in northwestern Russia. Recent satellite images have confirmed that Russia is expanding its military footprint close to Finland, although officials from NATO states bordering Russian territory have long said they expected Moscow to send significant numbers of troops near NATO land when the war with Ukraine ends. U.S. President Donald Trump and his senior officials have exerted significant pressure on Kyiv and Moscow to negotiate and stop Europe's largest land conflict since World War II—a feat Trump pledged to achieve in just 24 hours once he returned to the Oval Office in January. Progress toward a ceasefire has been sluggish, with the White House growing increasingly frustrated with Russian reluctance to ink a deal. Military personnel in northern Finland paint Russia as a real but long-established threat. "We have been neighbors of Russia for many hundreds of years," Major General Sami Nurmi, the chief of strategic planning for the Finnish Defense Forces, said this week. "We have learned to live with it." But Estonia's foreign intelligence service warned early last year that NATO "could face a Soviet-style mass army in the next decade" if Russia successfully reforms its military. Former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced sweeping changes to the military in late 2022 that are now underway. Other assessments have deemed a Russian attack on NATO more likely after pulling out of Ukraine if the alliance is seen as divided. Trump, a NATO skeptic, said before he swept back into the White House that he would encourage Russia to attack NATO members that he said fell short of guidelines for defense spending across the alliance, slashing at NATO solidarity. The exercises in northern Finland seem crafted to emphasize the opposite—to show NATO's newest inductees slotting in seamlessly. "This is a really obvious demonstration of how NATO capability can come to Finland," Brigadier Nick English, commander of the British Army's 1st Aviation Brigade Combat Team, told Newsweek on Wednesday. Not least for the Brits, it's also about acclimatizing to difficult conditions. "The Arctic is about as adverse as it gets—it can go from perfectly lovely to it will kill you, if you're not careful," said Lance Corporal Jamie Price with the 4th Regiment Army Air Corps deployed in Sodankylä. The Apache has "always been very effective as an attack platform," Price told Newsweek. The helicopter, able to lock onto and fire on multiple targets at once, is crafted to quickly get to where it is needed, before zipping away shortly after its work is done, added Molly Mclelland, a 19-year-old air trooper working in communications with the Air Corps. The British military received the last of its 50 upgraded AH-64E helicopters in March.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Army Apache crews who fired ‘first shots of Desert Storm' receive Distinguished Flying Crosses
Thirty-four years after the crews of eight Army Apache helicopters fired the first shots of Operation Desert Storm, the helicopter crews were awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses for the mission, the final step in three-decade effort by their former commander to see the crews recognized. Fifteen pilots and weapons operators were presented the awards Thursday by Army Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, the commander of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Novosel, Alabama, at an annual convention for Army flyers in Nashville, Tennessee, according to a Defense Department release. Known as Task Force Normandy, eight Army Apache helicopters launched from a Saudi air base toward the Iraq border in the early morning hours of Jan. 17, 1991 carrying Hellfire missiles. Led by four Air Force Pave Low helicopters that used terrain-following radar systems to keep the helicopters hidden, the Apache crews flew 90 miles into Iraqi territory to take out two of the country's early warning radar sites, opening the skies to a massive U.S.-led bombing campaign that quickly overwhelmed the Iraqi army. The crews originally received Air Medals with 'V device' for the mission, denoting valor for flying an aerial combat mission. But behind-the-scenes efforts by the battalion commander who led the mission, retired Gen. Richard 'Dick' Cody, paved the way for their award upgrades. Cody commanded the 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, which the Apaches were assigned to. 'The eight crews of Task Force Normandy fired the first shots of Desert Storm leading to the destruction of the Iraqi radar and ground control sites and officially kickstarting the allied air campaign. Their outstanding dedication to mission accomplishment is in keeping with the finest traditions of the military, and reflects great credit upon themselves, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and the United States Army,' the award citation states. The crews flew over the desert skies 20 minutes before H-hour, the official planned commencement for the U.S. military's early air campaign of Operation Desert Storm. As the helicopters drew close to the targets, totally undetected, one of the pilots gave a 10-second warning: 'Party in ten,' called 1st Lt. Tom Drew, according to a 1991 account in Air Force Magazine. At around 2:30 a.m., the Apaches fired 27 Hellfire missiles, hundreds of rockets and thousands of 30-mm ammunition to knock out the Iraqi radars. As the U.S. military contemplated how it would evict the Iraqi army from Kuwait, it focused on how U.S. bombers could reach Baghdad and other key sites inside Iraq. Planners knew the eyes and ears of the Iraqi air defense had electronic warfare radars that showed information like enemy aircraft size, direction of attack, and speed axis. Their defense system also included medium- and long-range surface-to-air missiles and short-range anti-aircraft artillery pieces, according to a large-scale combat operation analysis by Col. Paul E. Berg and Kenneth E. Tilley, both Army colonels. 'We knew that if we didn't destroy the sites on time, the early warning sites would notify Baghdad and Saddam would know we were coming,' retired Air Force Col. Michael Kingsley, a lead 20th Special Operations Squadron pilot who flew one of the Pave Lows said at an event back in 2006. The original attack plan named 'Instant Thunder,' called for dropping Army special forces into the desert to destroy the radar sites on the ground. But planners instead opted for a mission that included MH-53J Pave Lows, embedded with GPS, as the navigators while Apache crews carried the weapons and soldiers for the attack. The crews were named Task Force Normandy after the site of the 101st Airborne Division's famous airborne operation on D-Day during World War II. Their 15-hour combat operation gave Navy and Air Force bombers a 20-mile-wide corridor for the ensuing air campaign at the start of Desert Storm. 'This is one of those truly significant moments for us, both as an Army and as an Aviation branch,' Gill said at the ceremony. 'We need to use these example setters as people we should recognize and honor and then replicate the commitment that they made on that night of January 17, 1991.' Army infantry officer calls new XM7 'unfit for use as a modern service rifle' Attempted Fort Leavenworth prison break leaves military inmate tangled on fence When Americans, Germans and POWs fought the SS from the walls of a castle This Army combat medic fought off an active shooter and rendered first aid This 53 aircraft 'elephant walk' has everything you'd need for a war in the Pacific
