A secret NATO command bunker operates in the disused Jubilee line terminus beneath Charing Cross station, with troops running a war game defending Estonia from a Russian invasion in 2030. The setup uses locked metal double doors, a red-lit escalator, and mocked newspaper covers to conceal the activity from commuters above. Soldiers participate in exercise Arrcade Strike, with a British NATO force deployed to Estonia in response to Russian troop massing on the border. The scenario is set in 2030 because analysts expect the threat from Russia to be most acute then, especially if the war in Ukraine ends with a remilitarised Russia. The exercise also aims to influence funding decisions in Westminster amid disputes between the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury, including costs for drones and related modernization.
"Deep in Charing Cross underground station, in the disused terminus of the Jubilee line, a secret Nato command bunker has this week been discreetly at work. Dozens of mostly British soldiers were engaged in a war game defending Estonia from a Russian invasion in 2030, unbeknownst to commuters and tourists bustling above. The secret chambers are behind two sets of normally locked, metal double doors. A red glow at the bottom of the escalator beyond is the first sign of troops below; next are mocked up newspaper covers pasted over ageing adverts."
"The scenario you are about to see is very deliberately set in 2030 because that is where we see the threat from Russia to be at its most acute, says Lt Gen Mike Elviss, commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, in a video briefing. If the war ends in Ukraine it is the point at which, military analysts estimate, a remilitarised Russia could be ready to attack Europe again. The aim, ostensibly, is to show Moscow that for all Donald Trump's bluster, Nato is ready, operationally at least, to defend its most exposed members on the Baltic."
"But a more important audience is a mile or so down the road in Westminster, where the Ministry of Defence has been locked in a funding battle with the Treasury for months. Soldiers at work in the Ukraine-style bunker. Photograph: Richard Pohle Remodelling the British army, it is said, will cost billions in investment, particularly on drones. It is estimated that it will cost 50m a year to get the arms industry building the required volumes of simple one-way attack drones, so familiar in Ukraine, and 500m a year to develop more sophisticated models, such as armed driverless vehicles."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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