John Culatto
BRITISH soldiers taking part in a ten-day exercise that started Monday in and around Gibraltar have told members of the public they ‘should not be concerned’.
Military exercise Barbary Strike ‘will be conducting a series of training exercises across Gibraltar, testing their abilities to meet operational objectives,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.
I will run from November 6-16 ‘which might increase the visibility of military presence at unusual times’, especially in the early morning and late evening, the MoD statement said.
The exercise will echo the one carried out by the 1st Deep Reconnaissance Strike Brigade, which only formed up last summer.
This earlier exercise was the first international outing for the formation that formed out of the First Armoured Infantry Brigade and 1st Artillery Brigade.
It was formed with the goal to create a more lethal, agile and expeditionary force under a recent review as part of the Future Soldier programme.
Recent stats showed that around 14,000 military personnel passed through Gibraltar in 2022.
Nearly 80 sea ships and submarines stopped into its port as well as 117 military planes, the UK Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said.
The Ministry of Defence employs almost 1,000 people at its military base on the Rock, and more than half of them are local civilians.
About a quarter of those employed by the MoD belong to the Royal Gibraltar Regiment.
The latest exercise takes place after a group of Royal Marine commandos allegedly fought with police during an Ocean Village brawl.
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