Pembrokeshire has been buzzing with military action this week.

The county has been at the centre of a top joint air, sea and land operation.

Over 5,000 UK and French armoured infantry and airborne troops have been involved in Griffin Strike, a bilateral UK-French two-week exercise, which has seen 10 ships deployed and 21 aircraft in our skies.

An operating base was set-up at a disused airfield in Templeton, armoured vehicles, RAF Chinook transporters and Apache attack helicopters have carried out training at Castlemartin and amphibious assault training landings have been taking place at Lydstep.

The exercise shows how the UK and French maritime, land and air forces can be deployed rapidly together for a wide range of bilateral operations and, if called upon, work together as part of a NATO, EU or UN coalition operation.

The entire exercise is the culmination of many years of UK-French military and naval co-operation and is a key component of the commitment towards joint working made by both nations at the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement in 2010.

Captain James Parkin, captain of fleet amphibious flagship HMS Bulwark, which was stationed five miles off Tenby, with a company of 401 ranging from ages 17-54 from 14 different nations, said: “Griffin Strike is an excellent training opportunity and will build on our existing strong links with our French allies.”

He continued: “This is a huge undertaking. We’ve got French and British soldiers in Salisbury Plain and up in the Brecon Beacons, Royal Marines ashore on the beaches of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, we’ve got aircraft flying in overhead and we’re all operating in the waters between England and Wales. We couldn’t do this if the UK wasn’t able to provide exercise areas and we wouldn’t be able to do it unless we had the consent of the local population.

“We have been really really pleased and particularly my team ashore, the Royal Marines, have been absolutely bowled over by the welcome they have had. Every time they are on a beach pretending it’s a bad location, there’s someone walking a dog saying tell us what you are doing, can I get a selfie with my son.”

Report by Ceris Hewlings. Pics. Martin Cavaney Photography