Scotland showcases it's unique appeal to NATO.

Scotland will welcome an invasion by land, sea and air today as it provides excellent training facilities for it's NATO allies.

42 Commando Royal Marines will storm the beach at Barry Buddon near Carnoustie via helicopter. There will also be 40 warships, 30 helicopters and 30 fixed wing aircraft involved in one of the largest tactical military training exercises Europe has ever seen. The exercises, codenamed 'Joint Warrior', will cover both the east and west coasts of Scotland and continue for the next three weeks.

The Royal Marines have a proud history in Scotland with the Achnacarry Commando Training Centre being established in 1942 in order to train the elite troops for operations during WW2. The memorial at Spean Bridge is well worth a visit if you're in the area..

The exercise officially kicks off at 10am local time today although I'm sure I saw some non UK type aircraft flying low over Tayside yesterday.

These type of exercises highlight how important Scotland is to NATO and how we can be excellent partners under independence

The frigate in the picture at the top of the page is the auld alliance French frigate 'Jean Bart' flying le tricolor off the coast of Scotland.

UPDATE : Some good photos from the exercise in The Dundee Courier..