Royal Marines ready to ‘disrupt and confuse’ enemies

Royal Marine commandos are to be sent on covert missions overseas with the aim of disrupting enemy activity, according to a top military chief.

The commanding officer of 40 Commando said that small groups of marines will carry out “special operations” in sensitive places where a conventional deployment would have increased political risk.

The missions could include sending “fake electronic transmissions to confuse adversaries”, efforts to “disrupt online systems” and attempting to “deceive enemy forces by making them think UK troops are positioned elsewhere”, The Times reports.

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Lieutenant Colonel Simon Rogers said commandos will take on the role of special forces so that the “highest end troops” are free to focus on the most demanding operations. The strategy of operating between “peace and war” is aimed at “prevent[ing] such activities leading to all-out conflict”, the paper adds.

Speaking at a conference at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, Rogers added that “terrorist threats and hostile state activity are overlapping and they are on a global scale”, so “special operations are now no longer the preserve of special forces”.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Royal Marines were braving minus 30C temperatures in the Arctic during a challenging training exercise. 45 Commando battalion was deployed to northern Norway at the end of January to undergo a gruelling training exercise in “one of the most of inhospitable places on Earth”, the Daily Mail says.

Marine Stuart Bryant told the paper: “I learnt a lot this week and I am actually surprised by how much I enjoyed it.” He admitted that “it takes a while to get used to the cold”, but added that “keeping busy and active takes your mind off it”.