Ministry of Defence builds multi-million pound underground training base with tunnels miles long for troops to replicate siege of Mariupol

• £5m base will be built near existing Army training village on Salisbury Plain

Military commanders are building a huge multi-million pound training complex to prepare British troops for fighting underground, after studying the Russian siege of the Azov steel plant in Ukraine.

Defence sources said the need to train for subterranean warfare was highlighted by the battle in Mariupol, where thousands of Ukrainian troops held out for weeks in a warren of tunnels against Vladimir Putin’s invading troops.

The new £5m training base will be built near an existing Army training village called Copehill Down on Salisbury Plain. 

Tunnels will be several miles long and in places be just wide enough for fully equipped soldiers to move along in single file.

An Army source said: ‘We want to train soldiers in the most arduous conditions available. This new network of tunnels will be dark, hot and very claustrophobic.

Military commanders are building a huge multi-million pound training complex to prepare British troops for fighting underground, after studying the Russian siege of the Azov steel plant in Ukraine (pictured)

Ukrainian soldiers take part in a trench warfare training exercise on February 16

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‘This is the nature of modern warfare – look at what has been happening in places like Mariupol in Russia, as well as Syria and Afghanistan. Lots of tunnel fighting. The British Army needs to be prepared for that sort of combat. It’s not the sort of skill you want to learn on the job.’

Tunnel or subterranean combat in an urban environment is one of the most demanding of all forms of warfare.

During the siege of Mariupol, Ukrainian troops hid in Soviet era tunnels beneath the city’s vast Azov steel plant.

The tunnels were seven-storeys deep in places. Thousands of Russian soldiers are believed to have been killed and wounded in the subterranean battlefield.

Tunnel fighting in Syria and Afghanistan, often by the special forces, also demonstrated the need for the UK to develop realistic tunnel training complexes. 

During the Vietnam War, the US Army trained soldiers to become ‘tunnel rats’ – men armed with just a pistol and a torch whose job was to kill or capture Viet-Cong fighters hiding deep underground.

The officer in charge of the training exercise will be able to control both the light ventilation and temperature in the new training area. 

Mock battles will take place above and below ground and will enable troops defending the village to retreat beneath ground making the ‘capture’ of the training village vastly more difficult.

An MoD document asking building firms to bid to carry out the works says that the tunnels will require lighting, fire detection and ventilation monitoring alarms. It will be made from pre-cast concrete pipes and tunnels.

Combat training below ground in hot, tight dark spaces will test communication, fitness, tactical awareness and command and control. 

Tunnel or subterranean combat in an urban environment is one of the most demanding of all forms of warfare

Troops will not only practise attacking enemy positions but also casualty evacuation and resupplying comrades with weapons and ammunition when they are ensconced deep underground.

‘The effect to be achieved is training facilities that replicate a contemporary operating environment that has been subjected to modern warfare,’ the MoD tender notice says.

Colonel Philip Ingram, a former military intelligence officer, said: ‘Fighting in complex environments was highlighted by the spirited defence put up by a small number of Ukrainian troops in the Azov Steel Works in Mariupol last year. 

‘It is an area UK defence has realised it needs more facilities to ensure that as many troops as possible can be trained in this type of fighting environment. 

‘The opening of new facilities in Salisbury Plain, linking fighting in built up areas to fighting and operating in underground tunnels and complexes, recognises the need for this advanced training that can get as many troops through it as possible. 

‘Purpose-built training facilities on Salisbury Plain will provide a marked enhancement to the training needed for potential modern conflicts.’

An MoD spokesperson said: ‘We continue to invest in collective training capabilities for our Armed Forces to ensure we’re prepared to fight the ever more complex threats of the modern world. 

‘Under the Future Soldier programme, the Army is modernising collective training to ensure it’s always ready for the next challenge.’

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