Nato tests ‘deep strike’ missile operations from London Tube station to prepare for Russian attack

NATO forces have seized a London tube station to use as an underground headquarters as they simulate launching “deep strike” operations against Russia in the event of an attack on allied forces.

Stepping up preparations for war, the UK-led NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) moved its military capacity to a disused platform at Charing Cross station.

As part of Operation Arcade Strike, soldiers are testing NATO’s capacity to use electronic warfare to disrupt Russian communications and shoot down the Kremlin’s drones in the event of a fictitious Russian invasion of a Baltic country.

Defense sources said the UK only had enough drones to fight a week and several hundred were being used a day compared to what was needed. In Ukraine, this amounts to thousands a day in sustained use, at a time when generals continue to call on Europe’s defense industries to combat a strategic threat.

In his statement from the tube platform, US General Christopher Donahue, head of NATO Land Command, gave a simple warning to the alliance, saying that NATO had little time to prepare against a possible Russian attack.

“Having the mission ready by 2030 is not a slogan, this is what we need to do,” he said.

“The old modes of mobilization and action are no longer an advantage of NATO, and the lack of protection in depth will be used against us.”

British ARCC commander Lieutenant General Mike Elviss said the exercise was necessary to rehearse NATO’s “reconnaissance strike”, that is, the ability to find and destroy Russian forces entering the war.

“In this and every scenario we have rehearsed, Russia has two critical advantages. First, they can have massive combat power at the point of attack, whereas we have an obligation to defend anytime, anywhere. Second, if there is to be an attack, it will be initiated by them, so they will have the initial momentum. Our answer to this lies partly in our understanding of reconnaissance-offensive warfare.”

“Today’s deployment is a mission rehearsal….We are rehearsing this not only to get good, but also because the enemy is watching us and we want him to know that we are ready for this fight,” he added.

The scenes were reminiscent of World War II and echoed similar images from the Blitz, where underground systems were used by civilians to evade Hitler’s bombs.

The public release of images showing British troops on the London Underground during wartime is as deliberate as it is practical.

The United Kingdom lagged far behind other European countries, particularly the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, but also Poland, in preparing the population for a possible Russian attack.

The high-profile exercise took place in the same week that Vladimir Putin was conducting his own war games in Belarus, conducting nuclear drills on land, at sea and in the air.

It also comes just days after the Ministry of Defense released images of two Russian jets flying within 20 meters of an RAF aircraft over the Black Sea and Donald Trump released footage of a somersault over the deployment of US troops to Europe.

Taking over a disused platform on the Jubilee Line, Gurkha engineers established a command center for NATO’s ARCC, which could be responsible for the deployment of 100,000 troops in extreme situations.

Equipment for the exercise was transported by London Underground’s specialist low loaders at midnight and unloaded by waiting troops.

Simultaneously, British and other NATO forces were preparing to defend against Russia’s invasion of the Baltic states as part of Operation Spring Storm in Estonia.

Putin’s long-range capabilities are growing, and only Ukraine can rival Russia in using drones in modern real-life warfare.

So the relocation of a military headquarters to a civilian location in London tests the command structure’s ability to survive and improvise.

“Drones have expanded the battlefield horizontally and vertically. Cheap unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS) and unidirectional attack drones now provide every battle leader with unprecedented reconnaissance and precision munitions capability,” said Gen Donahue.

Despite high-profile training efforts, there is no doubt that NATO lags behind in the development and use of modern low-cost equipment.

Ukraine has demonstrated the capacity to design and manufacture modern drone weapons in vast quantities on an industrial scale; It took months to achieve what NATO countries took decades to achieve.

Russia adapted almost as quickly. The use of non-compressible fiber optic drones has reportedly brought the streets of Kharkiv to a halt as First Person View (FPV) can now reach Ukraine’s second largest city.

Russian drone pilots have been posting joyful videos of their “hunting safaris” against civilians on the streets of Kherson for more than a year.

“Failure to learn, adapt and apply the lessons we observe on the modern battlefield, and to do so faster than our adversaries, puts both our deterrence posture and our defense plans at risk. Therefore, this exercise is taking place at a critical time,” said NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus G. Grynkewich.

The UK has devoted two chapters to the ARCC, and the UK government claims to spend around 2.5 per cent of GDP (£79.8bn) on defence. But this also includes non-military expenses such as pensions and intelligence operations.

Conservative MP and former security minister Tom Tugendhat has argued that the government’s plans to increase military spending to 3 per cent in the next parliament are a lie and that Britain’s military capacity is shrinking.

Meanwhile, the authors of Britain’s Strategic Defense Review, Lord George Robertson and Dr. Fiona Hill criticized the government’s response to their advice; this left the country “underprepared and underinsured” against Russian threats.

The government also delayed the publication of the Defense Investment Plan (DIP) by up to eight months; The Ministry of Defense has reportedly found a £28bn gap in the ability to meet current upgrade plans for the type of equipment being tested in vitro.