Eagle Sapper, British and French geniuses in common

(BRUSSELS2) Joint Franco-British training and exercises continue. This time at the engineer level between the sappers of the 17th Engineer Parachute Regiment (17th RGP) and the 23rd Engineer Regiment (Air Assault) in Northumberland. Exercise Eagle Sapper - which took place in mid-November - aimed to set up different structures on the basis of a complex humanitarian relief operation scenario: in a country facing famine and struggling to recover from the tsunami damage, with government control undermined by insurgents.

After deploying their base in Woodbridge in Suffolk, the exercise started with the setting up of a portable air bridge (APFB) in the wide part (3,2 km) of the artificial lake of Kielder Water. The sappers then moved to Otterburn, where they were challenged to create water supply points capable of delivering 40.000 liters of drinking water each day, to cross rivers using bridging equipment and improvised materials , to demolish obstacles and build defensive positions that were under fire from "enemy forces".

The difficult climatic conditions were one of the major elements of the exercise. According to Lt. Col. Jason Hones, commanding officer of the 23rd Combat Engineer Regiment. " If a soldier can survive in Northumberland in winter, he can survive anywhere in the world. This exercise is part of a larger partnership that has been established between the 16th Air Assault Parachute Brigade and 11th Brigade (11th BP), who have been tasked with developing a Joint Expeditionary Force.