TERRIER – New Commando Battlefield Digger – as the Royal Marines return to amphibious operations after a dozen years when deployments in the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan have been a distraction from their primary focus things are on the move.    The latest piece of kit for the Royal Marines is the 30 tonne, 50 mph TERRIER armoured digger, capable of clearing minefields, laying temporary roads, smashing road surfaces, tearing up concrete and lifting heavy objects.    The TERRIER is fitted with thermal imaging technology and can be controlled remotely from distances up to a kilometre away and has five cameras which allows dangerous tasks such as mine clearance to be conducted remotely.    This versatile vehicle is able to transport up to 5,000 kg of material and the quick hitch mechanism means the bucket at the front can be rapidly dropped and replaced with either a set of forks (making it rather like a fork lift truck, a ripper for tearing up road surfaces or a device for clearing mines from road surfaces.     Different fittings for its side excavator arm can be used to dig holes, lift objects, drill into the ground or shatter concrete.     The TERRIOR is armed with a 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Gun and smoke grenade launchers, and is air transportable by the (RAF aircraft) C-17 GLOBEMASTER, or the Airbus A400M when in service, but in Royal Marine service the Landing Craft Utility will be the usual means of getting them ashore.

24 Commando Regiment RE, based at Chivenor (Barnstaple) is an integral part of 3 Commando Brigade RM and now comprises:-

·           54 Commando Headquarters and Support Squadron, RE

·           56 Commando Field Squadron, RE (not yet established)

·           59 Commando Field Squadron, RE – the former 59 Independent Commando Squadron RM

                        Headquarters

                   Reconnaissance Troop

                   Field Troop

                   Field Troop

                   Field Troop

·         131 Independent Commando Squadron, RE (Volunteers)

                    Headquarters and Support Troop (Kingsbury, London NW)

                    300 Troop (Plymouth)

                    301 Troop (Sheldon, Birmingham)

                    302 Troop (Bath)

·         REME Workshops (Attached)

with an establishment of 543 Officers and Soldiers.

Some sixty (60) TERRIER vehicles have/are been acquired by the Royal Engineers – and will be issued to their field units including 24 Commando Regiment, RE.

The Elite Mountain Leaders to be Opened Up - the most junior Royal Marines for the first time joined the demanding course for mountain leaders - the leaders who are not just experts in Arctic Warfare and Mountaineering, which includes covert surveillance and reconnaissance.   Traditionally the leaders have been drawn from Corporals and above, but the branch is now available to all marine level ranks.    The Patrol Troop - part of the Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron, based at Stonehouse (Plymouth) has seen action in every major Royal Marines operation from the first Gulf War to Afghanistan.

RM Commando Assault Squadrons - New Home - Ten (10) Armoured Offshore Raiding Craft from 539 Assault Squadron RM crossed Plymouth Sound as they completed the move from Turnchapel to the new £30m facilities at the RM Tamar complex at the northern end of Devonport Naval Base.     At the RM Tamar is now the home of the waterborne equipment of the RM Amphibious Forces – Landing Craft, Hovercraft, Offshore Raiding Craft and RIBs (Rigid Inflatable Boats)– all relocated from Turnchapel or Poole.      Once commonly referred to as ‘frigate alley’, Weston Mill Lake near Camel’s Head Gate is now the home of amphibious warfare.

The amphibious warfare assets of the Royal Marines can be summarised as under the control of 1 Assault Group RM, now Headquartered at RM Tamar are :-

·           4 Assault Squadron RM - landing craft support to BULWARK (Assault Ship)

·           6 Assault Squadron RM - landing craft support to ALBION (Assault Ship)

·           9 Assault Squadron RM - landing craft support to OCEAN (Helicopter Carrier)

·         539 Assault Squadron RM - amphibious support to 3 Commando Brigade RM

·          10 Landing Craft Training Squadron at RM Poole

·          11 Amphibious Trials and Training Unit RM (ATTURM) at Instow (North Devon)

·          Royal Navy Board and Search School, at HMS RALEIGH (Torpoint).

One building in the Tamar complex will serves as the Headquarters of both 539 Assault Squadron RM and 10 Landing Craft Training Squadron RM, whilst a second large building will house landing craft and mechanical transport engineering workshops, including hard standing available for landing craft storage.    A concrete slipway has replaced the drab, muddy rocky shore at Wilson’s Beach and will be used to launch and recover the Landing Craft Air Cushioned vehicles and small boats and landing craft.    Larger landing craft – the smaller ‘vehicle/personnel’ and the larger ‘utility’, (which can carry a CHALLENGER 2 tank) – will be hauled out of the water for storage and maintenance by a powerful new boat lift.   RM Tamar – which will be formally dedicated and opened at the beginning of August (2013) – will be home to around 300 personnel (plus up 132 throughout the year on courses) when they’ve all relocated to the dockyard later this year.

VIGILANT – Missile Test Firing Honour – the Strategic Submarine VIGILANT which made a successful test firing of an unarmed TRIDENT II D5 missile last autumn has received the SSBN Efficiency Trophy.   This was the first test firing of the TRIDENT missile in three years – on the range off Cape Canaveral (Florida) last October (2012).   VIGILENT – the third of four in the Class – underwent a 40 month Long Overhaul Period (Refuel), at a cost of £ 300m which was completed in March 2012.   The submarine then started “working up”, (now termed DASO – Demonstration and Shakedown Period in the jargon).   This was the tenth time that a test TRIDENT missile has been fired by a Royal Navy submarine in the last 20 years.

The Last 42 – the Type 42 Destroyer EDINBURGH, the last Type 42 Destroyer in service, had made a final entry to Portsmouth ending four decades of service, to be greeted by a 21 gun salute, a fly past and in front of cheering crowds prior to decommissioning in the next few days.   The Fly Past was made up of the ships own LYNX HMA.8 Helicopter and a SEA FURY from the Royal Navy Historic Flight’.     The EDINBURGH was first commissioned in December 1985

ROVER Swap – The Royal Fleet Auxiliary Support Tanker RFA GOLD ROVER which has spent much of the last two years on the Atlantic Patrol (South) duty principally the Falkland commitment,   The RFA GOLD ROVER, just a shade under 40 years old has completed 21 month “Patrol” and is the oldest active ship in the Naval Service.    Whilst so deployed the ship sailed the equivalent of four times around the globe, sailing 91,860 nautical miles, and collectively the crew spent 7,789 hours on watch – more than 46 weeks!     The RFA GOLD ROVER included port calls at Gran Canarias, Ascension Island, St Helena and South Africa during the 21 month “Patrol”.     The RFA GOLD ROVER has been replaced on station by the slightly younger sister RFA BLACK ROVER and both will be replaced in service the new TIDE Class on order in South Korea which are due in service in 2016.

The Fighting Clan Reaches Simon’s Town – the Type 23 Frigate ARGYLL (The Fighting Clan), on a seven month Atlantic Patrol (South) deployment has made Simon’s Town where the ship announced the vessels arrival with a 21 gun - Royal Navy warships are allowed to fire such a salute in recognition of a special Royal occasion – however it has also become a tradition as they arrive in the South African port.   The ARGYLL will carry out a two week mid deployment maintenance package whilst in port supported by T23 COM and Babcock from the UK.