5 Images you should see this week

Video games, donkeys and motorbikes, Replenishment, Paper planes, and sandbags

Here are 5 pictures from operations around the world that shed a little light on what our deployed Armed Forces have been getting up to…

1. Is that a video game?

Image of a Royal Air Force Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, seen here releasing a torpedo for the first time.

No, it’s not a video game, but it is a Torpedo being dropped from the RAF Poseidon aircraft for the first time.

In a training flight over Scotland a Poseidon (P-8A) aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force at RAF Lossiemouth, dropped a recoverable exercise variant of the Mark 54 Lightweight Torpedo, simulating an attack on a submarine.

The Poseidon aircraft will provide global protection to the UK, NATO and our Allies’ submarines and warships in an increasingly dangerous world.

• 5 things to know about the Poseidon

2. Pallets of food

HMS Defender’s ship’s company open up pallets packed with food stores during a nighttime replenishment at sea with RFA Fort Victoria in the South China Sea.

This activity is not often seen. Here the ship's company from HMS Defender took part in stores replenishment whilst at sea in the South China Sea.

The unusual replenishment saw 17 pallets of fresh, dry and frozen food transferred from RFA Fort Victoria to HMS Defender, along with numerous bags of long-awaited mail with letters and parcels.

This tricky replenishment usually takes place in the daytime, here they do it at night making it even more challenging.

• UK Carrier Strike Group explained: Global Britain in action

3. An image of some sandbags…

A soldier from the 4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland can be seen in a dug-in position applying camouflage cream whilst on Exercise Cossack Mace.

Exercise Cossack Mace was a two-week exercise combining knowledge, skills and experience to demonstrate the ability to work closely alongside our Ukrainian counterparts, carrying out a variety of drills, which included live-firing drills and urban training.

• 📸 In Pictures: exercising alongside our Ukrainian allies

4. Paper plane competition in Mali?

A soldier from the British Army deployed on Operation NEWCOMBE in Mali throws an Unmanned Aerial System.

This is the Unmanned Aerial System, it is a valuable tool for British Peacekeepers from

MINUSMA

deployed in the country. It assists them in patrolling the region helping to bring long term peace to the country.

• Operation NEWCOMBE Explained: Peacekeeping in Mali

5. Donkeys and motorbikes

Members of the British Army deployed on Operation NEWCOMBE talk with some locals in Mali whilst out on patrols.

British Peacekeepers in Mali have recently been patrolling villages that had previously not been visited by the UN Mission (MINUSMA) before. Throughout the patrol, the peacekeepers sought to deter violence against civilians, reassure the local population and understand their Human Security needs.

• From Salisbury Plain to the deserts of Mali

Find out where else the UK Armed Forces are deployed here: