One of London’s busiest Underground stations was used as the command centre in a Nato war simulation.
It’s been more than 85 years since Londoners took cover in Tube stations during the Blitz, the last time the Underground had anything to do with a war.
But last week, one of the disused platforms at Charing Cross station was turned into the command hub of a British Army command post exercise.
Dubbed Operation ‘Arrcade Strike,’ it was set up by the army’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) as part of an exercise for NATO’s deployable corps headquarters led by Britain.
Major Jess Wood, chief of the Joint Air Ground Integration Centre, said: ‘It’s a very impressive setup behind a pretty nondescript grey door in the tube corridor. Someone stopped me on my way into work and asked how to get to Heathrow yesterday!’
She said the one thing she missed after a long shift underground was daylight and ‘more fresh air.’
The operation was a crunchtime trial to test the team’s ability to plan and command a massive military operation involving up to 100,000 personnel from the UK and Nato countries.
Inside the NATO Tube station command centre
While the exercise is fictional, the real systems and command structures are already up and running.
The fictional scenario was set in 2030 – the year UK military planners believe the threat from Russia could be its strongest.
In a real-life conflict, a Tube station buried deep underground would be an ideal spot for the command hub. Platforms at Charing Cross reach as deep as 98 feet.
A command post is the nerve centre of the operations, and a target for enemies in a war, and on the ground, it could be vulnerable to Russian long-range missiles, drones, and electronic interference, the British Army said.
One senior commander taking part in the exercise said: ‘Arrcade Strike is not a conceptual exercise. It is a rehearsal of the plans we already have and a demonstration of our ability to fight and therefore to deter.’
The Charing Cross station tunnels were selected for the exercise because of their space and location in the heart of London.
The command centre was hidden behind an unassuming door, with long tables and computers lining the corridor.
Corporal Ismaila Ceesay, 28, an information management specialist from Stratford, east London, said that everyone arriving for the exercise had to be inconspicuous and arrive in their civilian clothes so as not to alert members of the public.
He said: ‘I’ve reached into my London roots and adopted a London look to blend in like a local, so no one can suspect I’m anything but a commuter going to work.
‘I’ve got my hoody on, changed my gait and I try to blend in.
‘Winston Churchill was hidden underground in London in the Second World War, so it’s nothing new. It worked for him.’
A focus for the exercise was a new digital system called Project Asgard, an Artificial Intelligence-powered tool drawing in data from satellites, sensors and the imaginary battlefield, and used by commanders in decision-making.
The exercise was also used to unveil a new formation called 9 Deep Recce Strike Brigade (9 DRS), a unit created to target the enemy from a long distance using a rocket system with a 93-mile radius, and attack drones capable of reaching up to 372 miles.
Last week, Russia and Belarus launched massive nuclear weapons drills near Nato members’ borders, with 64,000 troops and nearly 8,000 pieces of equipment slated for the exercise.
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