Charing Cross station taken over by British Army in test to control Nato troops from deep underground
London Charing Cross station has been taken over by the British Army in a test to control Nato troops from deep underground.
Disused tube platforms were transformed into UK-led Nato headquarters, wherein officers led large-scale defensive land operations.
The exercise, called Arrcade Strike, mimicked a scenario where British forces must reacts to Nato Article 5, which rules that an attack against one is an attack against all.
In the situation, it is 2030 and the troops were deployed to Estonia after Russian troops launch an offensive on the Baltics.
The makeshift underground base is imagined to be in the Estonian capital, Tallinn.
In such a case, Nato nations must unite to "deter, strike, and if necessary, restore Nato territorial integrity".
The exercise was a massive operation, uniting hundreds of personnel from the UK, France, Italy and US for the test-run.
The military exercise was designed to push the allies' ability to "plan and command complex operations" of up to 100,000 personnel – all the way from the depths of central London.
On the "groundbreaking" exercise, Defence Secretary John Healey ]said: "We're transforming our Armed Forces and delivering on our Nato-first commitment to boost deterrence and ensure we can keep the UK and our allies safe.
"This groundbreaking Army exercise shows that with UK leadership, the ARRC can deploy at pace to command tens of thousands of troops to defend Nato territory.
"We are investing in our people and cutting edge tech and stepping up on European security."
Footage from the Ministry of Defence show officers working over laptops with massive screens before them, all huddled onto one side of a Tube platform.
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From underground, the team can work together, along with assistance from artificial intelligence, to support the identification of Russian targets.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Mike Elviss, Commander ARRC, said the exercise was an "important milestone" in making the ARRC into a "modern warfighting headquarters".
He declared he hoped it would "be able to command at the scale and complexity required to deter aggression and, if necessary, fight and win".
"We are demonstrating the UK’s leadership within NATO and our determination to ensure the Alliance remains ready, resilient and credible," the lieutenant added.
The military maneuvre, however, faces some uphill struggles.
In the situation, the UK requires more than 5,000 drones everyday for both offensive and surveillance operations.
But, in reality, the British Army is understood to only be able to deploy hundreds of drones within a single dale.
However, even that number would be hard to withstand during a real-life World War III given the state of Britain's arsenal.
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