Joint Warrior Battle – During the Joint Warrior Exercise and Royal Navy Task Force was attacked by a “swarm” of Fast Boats – the Task Force comprised the Fleet Flagship, the Assault Ship BULWARK, the Helicopter Carrier ILLUSTRIOUS, the Type 45 Destroyer DIAMOND and the Type 23 Frigate WESTMINSTER.   The ‘asymmetric threat’ posed by small ships is ever present to the larger warships, especially when in formation, and though their upper decks now carry small arms as a defence in many ways it is as unequal.   Whilst the main armaments of these vessels and usually superfluous in such actions the automatic Miniguns (30mm cannon), which fire up to 6,000 rounds a minute are ideal, and these are backed up by the good old standby, the M3M .5 calibre general purpose machine guns that are now mounted.   The LYNX HMA.8 of the embarked Flight from 815 Naval Air Squadron also plays a vital part in the defence of the Task Force using the long range her infra-optic camera system.

As the swarm gathered for the attack, they charged out of the Scottish lochs and inlets, some 30 Fast Boats, JetSkis, RIBs (Rigid Inflatable Boats) and even Tugs all had a part to play in the massed attack by the small, agile, rapidly moving boats.