As there were no Royal Navy submarines, troops of the Commando Force practised an undercover operation of reconnaissance in the Arctic. The seamen were deployed by the marines of the German Type 212A submarine U-35 in the NATO Cold Response 2026 exercise.

The inflatable raiding craft of the SSK launched by the RM as they worked a Norwegian fjord some 200 miles beyond the Arctic Circle. The reconnaissance teams went on shore undetected by the submerged submarine, to view positions of the simulated enemy before going back to the boat. The operation challenged NATO in that it could be capable of surreptitiously deploying small teams of specialists along the rough coasts of Norway.

The involved personnel were members of various elements of the UK Commando Force who are specialists. They incorporated the Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squad (SRS) and the Shore Reconnaissance Troop (SRT) that advance the main force to reconnoitre the area and acquire intelligence. They had the support of 148 Commando Forward Observation Battery, the Royal Artillery unit whose role is to direct artillery, naval gunfire and air strikes in support of the Commandos.

In the exercise, the teams detected a simulated hostile radar installation on the coast and passed targeting information to NATO warships offshore to allow a simulated naval gunfire attack.

By using submarine delivery, there is an extra degree of stealth, which reconnaissance teams can use to access defended coastlines undetected. In the intricate topography of the fjords of Norway, such an approach may be of great use to NATO activities. The most recent displayed capability of this UK capability was in March 2022, when Marines used the casing of the much larger HMS Ambush to launch boats.

About 1,500 Royal Marines have been on operations in northern Norway since January as part of the annual winter exercise, which will see the exercise Cold Response 26. It involves approximately 25,000 staff personnel of 14 NATO countries practising the defence of the northern flank of NATO.

NATO planning has focused more on the High North, as the situation gets more heated over the Arctic and also over the strategies to attack the Northern Fleet bases of Russia located on the Kola Peninsula. The management of these waters is one of the fundamental issues in the broader battle over access between the Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic.