The UK is preparing for Arctic war behind enemy lines by kitting out Royal Marines with £10m of snowmobiles.
The Royal Navy announced on Wednesday, April 3 the vehicles would be used to carry out strike raids to knock out comms and allow access for allied warplanes.
They would be employed by the UK Commando Force, the nation’s specialist extreme cold weather troops, capable of surviving, moving, and fighting across the Arctic’s inhospitable terrain.
Marines have traditionally moved across the snow on skis, snowshoes or towed by their armoured vehicles to get into combat.
But the Commando Force’s battlefield tactics have rapidly evolved, with smaller teams deployed across a wide area on reconnaissance, raiding and strike missions to disrupt the adversary behind enemy lines.
Successful strike ops allow freedom of action for the UK’s F-35 stealth jets operating from a Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier.
The investment will see the purchase of up to 159 Lynx Brutal Over Snow Reconnaissance Vehicles, made by Finnish subsidiary of Canadian firm Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP). The snowmobiles will be supplied by BRP from March 2025 onwards.
The Lynx Brutal is custom built to operate in deep snow and is ideally suited for taking Commandos and their equipment deep behind the adversary’s lines and help give them the tactical advantage as they deliver special operations in the High North.
Captain Nick Unwin RN, Commando Force Programme Director, said: “This is the next step in the transformational change taking place across the Commando Force in terms of what they do and how they do it.
“The Lynx Brutal is a well-proven vehicle operated by many partners and allies, and will play a key part in the Commando’s ability to operate in areas and in ways that are beyond the capabilities of conventional forces in the High North.”
The snowmobiles will deploy as part of Littoral Response Group (North), a Royal Navy amphibious task force described as having “Commandos at its heart” and designed to react to world events in Northern Europe’s waterways, including the complex Norwegian coastlines, the High North and the Arctic.
Royal Marines have just completed major military drills in the Arctic alongside NATO allies.
They attacked vital adversary infrastructure and carried out covert reconnaissance missions as they paved the way for large-scale NATO forces to move into the Nordic regions.
The commandos, led by strike teams of Royal Marines of Arbroath-based 45 Commando, tracked down enemy technology used to deny access to airspace and airwaves, creating favourable conditions for heavier armour to enter the region.
Their operations enabled HMS Prince of Wales and the UK Carrier Strike Group, including F-35B Lightning jets, to strike the adversary’s targets deep inland.
The Royal Navy say: “These missions were during Exercise Nordic Response as part of Steadfast Defender 24, NATO’s largest military drills in Europe in a generation, which tested allies’ ability to reinforce the continent’s frontiers from North America and across the Atlantic in the face of an aggressor.”
