By Pat Carty.
It is that time of the year when the United Kingdom’s elite special operations community has wrapped up the second of its premier bi-annual exercises – Chameleon 25-2. This high-stake training exercise, unites personnel from the Special Air Service (SAS), Special Boat Service (SBS), and the restructured United Kingdom Commando Force (UKCF), formerly 3 Commando Brigade, which underwent a comprehensive rebranding and organizational overhaul in 2024. Then, to bolster NATO Special Force commitments, June 2025 saw the formal integration of 40, 42, and 45 Commando into the UKCF structure, enhancing its rapid-response capabilities.
Chameleon serves as a critical venue for the UK’s Special Forces, honing its skills across land, sea, and air, day or night and in scenarios ranging from straightforward insertions to intricate, multi-phased operations. Regrettably, as an independent journalist, I am no longer granted official access to UK Special Force activities, unlike my engagements with our NATO SF allies, who value my on-site presence and post-exercise articles, written with the utmost operational security in mind. That said, public-domain tracking and open-source intelligence, allows me to shadow these UK SOF exercises closely, sometimes even anticipating their tactics and movements. While far from ideal, this approach also underscores how potential “interested parties” might monitor UK special operations from afar.
Spanning 25 August to 23 September 2025, Chameleon 25-2 based its ground operations at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, now hosting 11 Squadron, a joint RAF-Qatar training unit, operating Hawk Mk167 two-seat jets, alongside numerous other ground elements like 34 Squadron, RAF Regiment.
On StartEx, it was very notable that neither of the usual Chameleon SF support vessels; SD Victoria or SD Northern River (civilian-contracted from Serco Marine Services) were to be seen. However, HMS Duncan (D37), a Type 45 air-defence destroyer, which had departed from Royal Navy Portsmouth, was heading towards the North Sea via the English Channel. But more about Duncan later.
In the South of England, two A-400 “Atlas” transport aircraft departed from RAF Brize Norton, and were heading to RAF Leeming, which was being utilised as Exercise HQ. But, unlike prior Chameleons, there was no Short 360 twin-engine aircraft present, normally used for initial static-line or High-Altitude High-Opening (HAHO) parachute sorties. Despite that, Two CH-47 Chinooks from 7 Squadron (Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing, RAF Odiham; callsigns “Lifter 1 and 2”, touched down at Leeming mid-morning, to be joined later by two Beechcraft Shadow R1s from 14 Squadron (RAF Waddington; “Snake 57” and “Serpent 48”). These Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, are equipped with advanced sensors, satcom, and defensive suites, providing real-time overwatch for ground teams in contact with an enemy.
An RAF C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft, also from Brize Norton, then arrived overhead Leeming, and commenced a “High Altitude High Opening” (HAHO) para drop from 12,000 feet (FL120), then landed. One of two A-400s, which by then had arrived earlier, departed for Uppsala in Sweden, returning later that afternoon. The other A-400 then departed on another round-trip to Lemming via Uppsala. Then the C-17 also followed to Uppsala, remaining overnight. Finally, dusk saw a third Chinook (Lifter 3) arrive, completing the exercise rotary assets.
The following morning, the C-17 pushed boundaries with a HAHO from FL180 near Uppsala. That was followed by an evening drop from FL100, before returning to Leeming. For a change, a Shadow R1 then departed north on a navigation exercise over Scotland, while the remaining A-400 headed to Sweden yet again.
I am sad to say these routine Swedish return sorties began to blur my interest in Chameleon. However, HMS Duncan’s arrival off England’s North Sea coast, transferring PAX to/from Scarborough (a mere 60-mile drive from Leeming) refocused my interest.
Back at Leeming, SF troops started fast-roping serials from a Chinook. A second Chinook then headed to Duncan (top photo) which by then had moored off Bridlington. Overhead, a Shadow R1 orbited at FL180 on an ISR tasking. Sometime later, A-400 “Ronin 31” executed sea drops near the destroyer, which extended into evening hours, and whilst the Chinooks skimmed the waves, deploying and recovering Military Inflatable Boats (MIBs) and personnel via their rear ramps.
Photo: HLS beach flare (PC)
The following day, six MIBs launched from SD Northern River, which had replaced Duncan overnight. They headed for Bridlington’s sun-soaked beach, packed with late summer holiday families. An orange flare was then fired from the beach by two SOF members dressed in civies (above photo) which confused the adjacent sunbathers. Then, two Chinooks thundered in to land on the beach, whilst the MIBs came ashore. The MIBs were then loaded into the Chinooks, along with their crews. Then both were transported back to Leeming. This left the watching holiday makers confused, but delighted, as they had just watched and photographed a masterclass in urban-proximate ops (photo below).
Photo: SOF personnel load their MIBs into CH-47 “Lifter 2”. (PC)
Chameleon continued with almost daily A-400/C-17 return sorties to Uppsala and Visby in Sweden, at least three of these sorties resulting in HAHO drops. Other Leeming departure sorties included return flights to Bournemouth’s civilian airport, the closest airport to the SBS HQ in Poole, and Cardiff airport, the closest airport to the SAS HQ in Herefordshire, and the Special Forces Support Group HQ at St Athan in Wales. There were also a few more para drops over Leeming, and one onto Everleigh DZ on the Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA). Nevertheless, the paradrops which interested me more were those into Bridlington Bay, located in the North Sea. However, and for me it was a Chameleon first – I saw no MIBs being dropped alongside their troops!
Whilst I accept that during the exercise there had to be some necessary flights, which included thirty-two Shadow R1 ISR sorties within Sweden, and maybe A-400 or C-17 sorties to perform “covert insertion” sorties, or “Combat SAR” sorties, where the SF troops deployed behind enemy lines, to recover simulated downed aircrew, and I also accept there were other SF exercises taking place in nearby Norway and Finland, including “Southern Griffin 25”. But to make a total of some eighty-nine, yes eighty-nine return flights from Leeming to Uppsala and Visby in Sweden, many just containing a handful of troops, plus at times two Polaris MRZR4 Light Strike Vehicles (LSV) – small, open-top, four-wheel-drive dune buggy-style vehicles, designed for high-speed reconnaissance, hit-and-run raids, and special operations over rugged terrain (photo below) it seemed way over the top to me to say the least.
Photo: A400 “Ronin 71” unloads its Polaris MRZR4 LSVs. (PC)
With Chameleon 25-2 now concluded, I just hope the troops involved again benefited from their training and evaluation. Plus of course enjoyed the various exercise scenarios. If so, that may have justified the expense of each and every one of those eighty-nine flights to and from Sweden. But I stress, may. Nevertheless, and as I said previously, this write-up may also give you an insight’ into how other “interested parties” can follow such activities from far away. Either way, Chameleon 25-2 was yet another opportunity for me to monitor UK SOF, which I look forward to doing again during Chameleon 26-1.
*********
Author: Pat Carty is a NATO accredited journalist who covers military news, events, operations, and exercises; including special operations forces. He is a contributor to SOF News as well as several other military defense publications.
Top image: CH-47 “Lifter 1” out bound from HMS Duncan during UK SOF Exercise Chameleon 25-2. (PC)