Navy Command FOI Section

Navy Command Headquarters

MP 1-4, Leach Building
Whale Island
PORTSMOUTH
PO2 8BY

FOI2020/06214
E-mail: Navysec-foimailbox@mod.gov.uk

Mr P Miller
phil.miller.research@gmail.com
24 June 2020

Dear Mr Miller,

Release of Information

Thank you for your correspondence of 1 June 2020 in which you requested the following
information:

‘Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please search the records of
International Defence Training (Royal Navy) and provide a breakdown of the number
and nationality of foreign military personnel who attended the following courses in
calendar year 2019:

1. Initial Naval Training (Officer) courses at Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in
Dartmouth

2. Air Engineering courses at HMS Sultan.

3. Operational Sea Training from HMS Drake (please specify the unit level courses
attended)

4. Weapon Engineering at HMS Collingwood

5. Electronic Warfare courses at HMS Collingwood

6. International Principal Warfare Officer at HMS Collingwood

7. Helicopter Control Tactical courses at RNAS Yeovilton

8. Flight Deck Officer courses at RNAS Culdrose provides

9. Sea King helicopter maintenance courses at RNAS Culdrose’

Your enquiry has been considered to be a request for information in accordance with
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

A search has been completed within the Ministry of Defence and I can confirm that
information in scope of your request is held. Please see the table at Annex A to this letter
where each part of your request is addressed in order.

If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the
first instance.

If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response,
you can request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights
Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail CIO-
FOI-IR@mod.uk). Please note that any request for an internal review should be made
within 40 working days of the date of this response.

If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly
to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate
your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the
Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at
https://ico.org.uk/.

Yours sincerely

Navy Command Secretariat - FOI Section

 Annex A
to FOI 2020/06214
dated 24 June 2020

FOI2020/06214

Breakdown of the Number and Nationality of Foreign Military Personnel who Attended
International Defence Training (Royal Navy) Courses in Calendar Year 2019:

Course Country Student Numbers

1. Initial Naval Training
(Officer) (INT)(O) courses at
24 65
Britannia Royal Naval
College
Albania ~
Antigua ~
Bahamas ~
Bahrain ~
Bangladesh ~
Barbados ~
Belize ~
Colombia ~
Egypt ~
Georgia ~
Ghana ~
Jordan ~
Kuwait 5
Lebanon ~
Malta ~
Montenegro ~
Nigeria ~
Oman 10
Qatar 14
Saudi Arabia 9
Sri Lanka ~
United Arab
~
Emirates (UAE)
Ukraine ~
Uruguay ~
2. Air Engineering courses
- -
at HMS Sultan
- -
3. Operational Sea Training
7 12 ships
(OST) from HMS Drake
OST Belgium 1 ship
OST Denmark 1 ship
GOST Germany (G) 3 ships
NOST Netherlands (N) 2 ships
 NOROST Norway (NOR) 1 ship
POST Portugal (P) 1 ship
United States of
USOST 3 ships
America (US)
4. Weapon Engineering
1 ~
(WE) at HMS Collingwood
S712H PHALANX 1B New Zealand ~
Systems Engineering and
Management Course (SEMC) New Zealand ~
(WE) Phase 1
SEMC(WE) Phase 2 New Zealand ~
5. Electronic Warfare (EW)
courses at HMS 3 5
Collingwood
International EW Manager Brunei ~
Singapore ~
UAE ~
6. International Principal
Warfare Officer (IPWO) at 12 19
HMS Collingwood
IPWO 'Alpha' Chile ~
Malaysia ~
Pakistan ~
Singapore ~
IPWO 'Bravo' Egypt ~
Indonesia ~
Ireland ~
Kenya ~
Kuwait ~
Nigeria ~
Poland ~
Qatar ~
7. Helicopter Control
Tactical courses at Royal
- -
Naval Air Station (RNAS)
Yeovilton
Helicopter Control Tactical
- -
(AIR 208)
8. Flight Deck Officer
2 5
courses at RNAS Culdrose
Flight Deck Officer (AIR 230) New Zealand ~
Nigeria ~
9. Sea King helicopter
maintenance courses at - -
RNAS Culdrose
- -

For disclosure control, figures fewer than 5 are represented by ‘~’, 0 is represented by '-'.
 Navy Command FOI Section
Navy Command Headquarters
MP 1-4, Leach Building
Whale Island
PORTSMOUTH
PO2 8BY

Ref: FOI2020/03728
E-mail: navysec-foimailbox@mod.gov.uk

Mr P Miller
phil.miller.research@gmail.com 14 May 2020

Dear Mr Miller,

Release of Information

Further to our letter of 16 April 2020 I am now able to respond in full to your request for the
following information:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please search the records of
International Defence Training (Royal Navy) and provide a breakdown of the number
and nationality of foreign military personnel who attended the following courses in
calendar year 2019:

1. Royal Marines Boarding Courses (RMBC)(Non-Compliant) from HMNB Clyde, ref

201/1000;

2. Royal Marines Young Officer Courses at RM Commando Training Centre in

Lympstone, ref 071/026;

3. All Arms Commando courses at RM Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, ref

071/041;

4. Platoon Weapons Instructor courses (PW1, PW2, Sniper) at RM Commando

Training Centre in Lympstone, refs 071/020, 071/067, 071/013;

5. Heavy Weapons Anti-tank courses (HW2 ATK) at RM Commando Training Centre

in Lympstone, ref 071/076;

6. Landing Craft 1, Landing Craft 2 and Landing Craft Officers’ Qualifying courses
(LC1, LC2, LCOQC) at RM Tamar, refs 065/006, 065/007, 065/005.

7. Lastly, in respect of the All Arms Commando course, please disclose the
nationality of the foreign personnel pictured in the following link and the date on
which the image was taken https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/royal-navy-
 responsive/documents/idt/royal-marines/rm-
training/05_03_rm_all_arms_commando.pdf?la=en-gb

Your enquiry has been considered to be a request for information in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).

As explained in our interim response, a search was completed within the Ministry of
Defence and it was confirmed that information in scope of your request is held. Please see
Annex A to this letter for a table where each part of your request is addressed in order. It
has though, not been possible to identify the nationality of the personnel in photograph you
provided a link to or its date other than that the photo is over two years old.

If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the
first instance.

If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response,
you can request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights
Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail CIO-
FOI-IR@mod.uk). Please note that any request for an internal review should be made
within 40 working days of the date of this response.

If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly
to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate
your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the
Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at
https://ico.org.uk/.

Yours sincerely

Navy Command Secretariat – FOI Section

 Annex A
FOI 2020/03728
14 May 2020

Foreign military personal on Royal Marine Training Courses

Course Country Total

RM Boarding
N/A -
course
Nigeria ~
RMYOC UAE ~
Oman ~
All Arms Philippines ~
Commando Course Bosnia ~
Platoon Weapon 1 Netherlands ~
Platoon Weapon 2 N/A -
Platoon Weapon 3 Netherlands ~
Landing Craft 1 Netherlands ~
Landing Craft 2 Netherlands 10
Landing Craft 3 N/A -
Heavy Weapons
N/A N/A
Anti-Tank course

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 in line with disclosure control policy. Figures ending in 5 are
rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid bias, 5 or fewer is represented by '~', 0 is represented by '-'.
2. N/A occurs for Heavy Weapons Anti-Tank as this course is discontinued.