They were welcomed by Estonia’s defence minister, Margus Tsahkna, on their arrival from RAF Brize Norton. Eight hundred British troops are due to be stationed in the country as part of one of the biggest deployments to eastern Europe in decades.
The first batch will set up a UK headquarters in the country before the rest arrive next month. They will work alongside French and Danish forces to “provide a proportionate, defensive and combat-capable force to defend our Nato ally and deter any form of hostile activity against the alliance”, the Ministry of Defence said.
Britain is taking a leading role in the Estonia battlegroup, while other nations are deploying troops to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland as part of Nato’s Enhanced Forward Presence battalion.
Around 300 UK vehicles have also left the UK this week by ferry headed for Estonia, including Challenger 2 tanks, Warrior infantry fighting vehicles and AS90 self-propelled artillery pieces.