Major military exercises taking place off Scotland
- Published
Thirty naval units will be involved in the training, which started this week
More than 6,000 military personnel and dozens of warships and aircraft from 11 countries are to be involved in training off Scotland's east coast.
Exercise Groupex involving the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth has already started.
Joint Warrior, running from 4-15 October, will form part of Groupex and will include naval units from Australia and the US.
The Royal Navy said all units would "observe current Covid-19 guidelines".
It said a wide range of measures to reduce the impact and risks of the infection had been put in place, including limited port visits. The Royal Navy said visits would only be made for operational and logistical reasons.
Groupex started on 21 September and will mainly take place off Scotland's east coast. It will finish at the same time as Joint Warrior.
The Rosyth-built aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is leading what is called a carrier strike group. Warships from the UK, US and the Netherlands form part of the group.
The carrier is carrying 15 F-35B stealth fighter jets and eight Merlin helicopters. The Royal Navy said it was the largest concentration of fighter jets to operate at sea from a UK carrier in almost 40 years.
The jets are RAF and US Marine Corps aircraft.
Aircraft on the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth
Joint Warrior is one of Europe's largest Nato exercises and is held twice a year - in spring and autumn.
This year's first staging of the exercise was drastically pared down due to the Covid-19 pandemic with only a handful of countries involved and all the training was held at sea.
Next month's Joint Warrior will largely take place at sea, including in the Moray Firth.
But 130 ground troops will be training at military ranges and maritime exercise areas on the east, west and north coasts of Scotland.
Overall, Groupex and Joint Warrior will involve more than 6,000 personnel, 30 naval units from countries including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Lithuania, Norway and Portugal and 81 aircraft.
Some of the aircraft will be flown out of airports at Prestwick in Ayrshire and Stornoway in Lewis.
F-35B stealth jets are taking part in the training
Live firing training will be carried out at Cape Wrath Weapons Range in Sutherland and there will be small boat and air defence activity in the Moray Firth.
The Royal Navy said GPS services would be unavailable for limited periods during training in parts of Scotland's west coast.
HM Naval Base Clyde is coordinating the training.
The Royal Navy said training would feature various "real world" scenarios, including situations involving heightened political and military tensions, also anti-smuggling, counter-terrorism operations and humanitarian aid operations.