NATO Allies have been rolling out big guns and practising air defence as part of Exercise PALADIN STRIKE at Ādaži Military Base in Latvia.
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“We will never be able to face war alone. We need each other.” – The words of a Canadian Battery Commander during an exercise at NATO’s multinational battlegroup in Latvia.
NATO Allies have been rolling out big guns and practising air defence as part of Exercise PALADIN STRIKE, allowing them to familiarise themselves with each other’s fighting tactics and capabilities. The exercise took place at Ādaži Military Base, the home of NATO’s multinational battlegroup in Latvia, which is holding various exercises ahead of Exercise SILVER ARROW in September – their final test before the battlegroup’s integration into the NATO Multinational Brigade.
NATO’s multinational battlegroup in Latvia was established following the 2016 Warsaw Summit, in which Allies agreed to set up four multinational battlegroups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, additional battlegroups were created in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. While most battlegroups are multinational battalions, some – like Latvia – are expanding to brigade-sized formations with more robust capabilities, like long-range artillery and air defence.
Exercise PALADIN STRIKE ran from 01-08 August 2024. This recently released NATO Multimedia B-roll footage includes shots of the Canadian Howitzer 777 firing; soldiers from Canada, Italy, Slovakia and the United States; and soundbites from Major ‘Luca’ Jamon Paradis, Air Defence Battery Commander, Canadian Army.
Shot list:-
- 00:00 – Two Slovak Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzers drive along dirt track at Ādaži military base
- 00:14 – Canadian soldiers firing M777 howitzer
- 00:55 – Canadian soldier organising artillery rounds
- 01:00 – Canadian soldiers firing M777 howitzer
- 01:16 – Slovak Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzers firing on training ground
- 01:21 – Showing impact of artillery and smoke rising over training ground
- 01:28 – Canadian and Slovak soldiers discussing plans under a camouflage netting
- 01:47 – Canadian soldiers on top of a tank
- 02:01 – Canadian spotters at an observation post explaining their equipment for guiding artillery fire
- 02:11 – Slovak soldiers record data from artillery firing exercise
- 02:15 – Italian infantry practise using a Stinger missile system in an air defence drill
- 02:57 – Canadian and Spanish armoured vehicles driving along dirt track
- 03:05 – Canadian armoured vehicles manoeuvre around the training ground
- 03:30 – US soldiers in the field
- 03:48 – soundbite: Major ‘Luca’ Jamon Paradis
- 04:18 – soundbite: Major ‘Luca’ Jamon Paradis
- 04:45 – soundbite: Major ‘Luca’ Jamon Paradis
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