A FICTITIOUS country called ‘Selaw’ has been saved from enemy attack as part of a one of the most ambitious army exercise to ever take place in the UK.

A massive, multinational operation took place in Meirionnydd between 8-15 October where an intense battle for Llanbedr Airfield and Trawsfynydd Power station was simulated.

In Snowdonia, leading the most ambitious exercise they have ever conducted, was the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC).

The HAC, who regularly train in Wales, is the oldest regiment in the British Army, with a history dating back to 1537.

Exercise Vambrace Warrior, as it was known, was set up in ‘Selaw’ where the unsettled northern province was politically polarised with forces close to the southern province set against the northern government.

“Key installations were set as ‘targets’, particularly the airfield and the decommissioned nuclear power station.

Elements of the HAC played roles on both sides of the conflict: its patrols were sent out to observe the targets over a period of time with a view to a potential attack.

In defence of these northern assets, other elements of the HAC set out to closely observe the surrounding areas to identify those looking in.

In the event of a possible attack from the air, a vast array of air defence kit was brought in, supplied by both the regular and reserves.

Surface-to-air missiles, with a range of capabilities, defended both Llanbedr and Trawsfynydd, and it was estimated that this was the largest such deployment of British ground-based air defence in any single deployment within the UK in well over a decade.

Those defence systems were tested by a variety of aircraft such as RAF Typhoon and Hawk jets, RAF Apache and Chinook helicopters and a US Air Force Hercules transport plane.

It was from the Hercules that US Marines parachuted down to Llanbedr airfield on two occasions, day and night, to simulate an attack on assets within the airfield.

As well as support from other parts of the Army and the RAF, exercise Vambrace Warrior was a multinational exercise.

Links the HAC has established in recent years, for example through joint training exercises, came together with participation from the United States (both Army and Marines), Japan, Malaysia and Ireland.

It was the first time that Japan have sent soldiers to exercise overseas since the foundation of the modern state.

Defence minister Mark Lancaster was on hand to see what was the largest UK ground-based air defence exercise since 2003.

Read the full story in this week’s north editions of the Cambrian News