Royal Marines on Snowmobiles

British Royal Marines Commandos prepare to load snowmobiles onto a C-130J Super Hercules assigned to the 37th Airlift Squadron, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, at an airport in Bardufoss, Norway, prior to Exercise Cold Response 20, Feb. 27, 2020. Due to the snowy terrain, the Commandos and U.S. Tactical Air Control Party Airmen utilized snowmobiles to carry large amounts of equipment between objectives. Cold Response is a Norwegian Joint Headquarters exercise focused on joint and combined maritime, land and air operations. Based on other sources the Royal Marines pictured are probably from the Surveillance Reconnaissance Squadron, 30 Commando.

Military Units Featured

Royal Marines

The Corps of Royal Marines is an amphibious light infantry formation and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The marines can trace their origins back to the formation of the English Army’s “Duke of York and Albany’s maritime regiment of Foot” at the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company on 28 October 1664.

The operational capability of the corps comprises a number of battalion-plus sized units, of which five are designated as “commandos”:

Operational Structure of the Royal Marines
40 Commando based at Norton Manor Barracks, Taunton, Somerset, England
42 Commando based at Bickleigh Barracks, Plymouth, Devon, England
43 Commando Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines based at HM Naval Base Clyde, Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute (Previously Comacchio Group).
45 Commando based at RM Condor, Arbroath, Angus, Scotland
30 Commando Information Exploitation Group based at Stonehouse Barracks, Plymouth
Commando Logistic Regiment based at RM Chivenor, Devon
24 Commando Engineer Regiment based at RM Chivenor, Devon
Royal Marines Armoured Support Group (RMASG) is an element of the Royal Marines that operates the Viking BvS 10 All Terrain Vehicle, based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset.
Special Boat Service based at RM Poole, Dorset (although Full Command is retained by CINCFLEET, Operational Command of SBS RM is assigned to Director Special Forces).
47 Commando (Raiding Group) Royal Marines based at RM Tamar, Devonport.

Military Equipment Featured

Oversnow Reconnaissance Vehicle (ORV)

The Oversnow Reconnaissance Vehicle (ORV) is the MOD’s preferred term for a snowmobile. The Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron (SRS) have used modified Bombardier Lynx GLX 5900 FCE models in the past, but those shown here are unidentified.

Photographer

Staff Sgt. Devin Boyer, US Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa.
Camera: Nikon D5.