Nato forces have taken over a disused platform at Charing Cross Tube station to use as an underground headquarters for simulating “deep strike” operations against Russia. The exercise, led by the UK-based Nato Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), is part of Operation Arrcade Strike, testing electronic warfare capabilities to jam Russian communications and down drones in the event of an invasion of a Baltic state.
US General Christopher Donahue, head of Nato’s Land Command, warned that the alliance has little time to prepare for a potential Russian attack. “Mission-ready by 2030 is not a slogan, it is what we must do,” he said. British ARRC commander Lieutenant General Mike Elviss added that the rehearsal is necessary to counter Russia’s advantages in massing combat power and seizing initial momentum.
Defence sources indicated that the UK only has enough drones for a week of conflict, using a few hundred per day, far below the thousands used daily in Ukraine. The exercise comes as Vladimir Putin conducted nuclear drills in Belarus and after two Russian jets flew within 20ft of an RAF aircraft over the Black Sea.
Gurkha engineers set up the command centre on the Jubilee line, capable of overseeing the deployment of 100,000 troops. The public messaging is deliberate, as the UK lags behind Nordic, Baltic, and Polish nations in preparing the population for a possible Russian attack. The scenes evoked the Second World War blitz, when Tube stations sheltered civilians from bombing.
