The British Army has fired its new Archer Mobile Howitzer system for the first time.

The Royal Artillery tested its latest firepower in the Arctic Circle on Monday, only 70 miles from Russia’s border, in Exercise Lightning Strike.

It makes up part of Nato’s wider Dynamic Front 25 series, which will take place across five countries and marks the alliance’s largest-ever artillery exercise in Europe.

Some 3,600 soldiers, including around 1,250 international troops from 28 nations, have been deployed to take part in the war drills located near Rovaniemi in Finland. Of these, around 350 soldiers will have been deployed by the British Army.