Royal Marines parachute into Denmark....

via RoyalNavy.mod.uk.

Royal Marines performed a stunning sunset parachute drop over Denmark as the UK’s key military deployment of the spring moves up a gear.

Leaping from just 800 feet, the men of the elite Pre-Landing Force, 30 Commando, landed outside the small town of Varde in western Jutland.

After a 90-minute flight in a C130 Hercules from RAF Brize Norton, the Plymouth-based commandos jumped over their dropzone using special low-level parachutes, landing on their target with pinpoint accuracy at twilight.

The drop is just one element in the opening stages of the two-month-long Baltic Protector deployment, led by Britain and involving more than half a dozen nations which border either the Baltic or North Seas.

With a cluster of British vessels at its heart (flagship HMS Albion, support ship RFA Lyme Bay, helicopter support vessel RFA Argus, frigate HMS Kent and military ferry MV Hurst Point, numerous helicopters and hundreds of Royal Marines spearheaded by 45 Commando from Arbroath in Scotland), the deployment is the biggest test yet of the Joint Expeditionary Force.

The force was established seven years ago to demonstrate the resolve of the military of northern European nations to operate side-by-side in the event of an international incident or crisis – everything from responding to a natural disaster through to conflict.

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