RAF St Mawgan has reassured the public that increased activity levels at the base is part of a planned exercise

This week, the Royal Air Force launches their Homeland Defence Exercise: Agile Warrior 26. It’s been described as a “long-planned major homeland defence training activity”.

The exercise is designed to “rigorously test” the RAF’s ability to protect the United Kingdom in an increasingly contested and volatile global security environment and forms a critical step to ensuring the RAF remains ready to “fight tonight” in defence of the nation.

In a statement released today, the bases says Agile Warrior 26 (AW26) will allow the RAF to evaluate and, if necessary, enhance front line capabilities through dispersed, resilient and agile airbase operations.

During the two-week exercise, air and ground units across multiple RAF stations will train under contested, degraded and operationally limited conditions, simulating the effects of cyber-attacks, long-range precision strike threats, and persistent attempts to disrupt UK air operations.

An RAF spokesperson said: “Essentially, the exercise is intended to test the RAF’s ongoing ability to defend the UK when under direct attack from an adversary, ensuring the RAF can continue protecting the country no matter what challenges it faces.

“All personnel from across the RAF, along with key partners including 39 Engineer Regiment, 20 Works Group, and embedded capabilities from UK Space Command will be involved. Participating forces will practise rapid dispersal, improvised command-and-control arrangements, base defence, sustainment and recovery activities, ensuring the RAF could continue operating even when under sustained pressure from adversary activity.

“AW 26 also builds upon lessons from earlier activities such as Exercise Agile Shield 24 and provides essential preparation ahead of NATO’s flagship Exercise; Steadfast Defender 27, where full-scale alliance warfighting plans will be tested.”

Speaking ahead of the Exercise, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, highlighted the importance of strengthening homeland defence readiness: “Here at home, we are seeing regular incursions into our sovereign waters and air space by hostile agents that don’t play by our rules… We see regular examples of espionage and sabotage that seek to affect our economy, undermine our democracy, and disrupt our very way of life. It’s through this lens, protecting our homeland, that we prepare for Exercise Agile Warrior… what we do, and how we do it, really matters.”