A young paratrooper from Richmond is in France training alongside French airborne forces as part of a large-scale international military exercise.
Private Ned Land is among 2,000 troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade and France’s 11e Brigade Parachutiste taking part in Exercise Orion at the St Cyr-Coëtquidan training area in Brittany. The exercise is designed to test troops with a scenario in which they must support a NATO ally facing both an insurgency and the threat of invasion.
It is the 18-year-old’s first overseas exercise since joining 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment last summer.
Speaking from France, Pte Land said the deployment had been a true test of life as a paratrooper.
“This exercise has been everything that being a paratrooper is all about,” he said. “We jumped in and have been moving around the area, living in woodblocks, and both launching attacks and defending positions.
“We’re here to work with French airborne forces and build a relationship with them. They’re good soldiers, their role and training is like ours, and we’ve got on well.”
Pte Land, who attended Richmond School, began his Army career at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate before joining the elite Parachute Regiment.
“I joined the Army to challenge myself, get out and about, and do something interesting,” he said. “It was only ever going to be the Paras for me, because they’re the best infantry unit and I wanted the biggest challenge.”
Exercise Orion is testing the Airborne Combined Joint Force, a partnership between British and French airborne forces that has been ready to respond to global crises since 2013.
The force is a key part of Franco-British military co-operation established under the Lancaster House Treaties in 2010, which were updated in 2025.
