British troops are pictured shooting machine guns in a suburban French town - to the bemusement of locals.<br /><br />Soldiers, thought to be the Gurkha regiment, are seen taking firing positions and even recovering fallen comrades in Cahors, a small town in southern France.<br /><br />One bizarre scene sees soldiers firing a heavy gun down a street, while a lady walks by on her phone followed by an elderly woman.<br /><br />The surreal sights and rattling gunfire last week were part of Orion 2023, a major French Joint Forces Command exercise aimed at reinforcing operational readiness and involving 12,000 service people.<br /><br />Last Thursday (8 March), the RAF reported flying two sorties of an Atlas C1 transport aircraft to insert a company of 2 Royal Gurkha Rifles and their equipment to integrate with the French Marine 8th Parachute Regiment for the tactical, combined arms exercise. <br /><br />Bystander Sami Salmi, who captured the scenes, said: "Operation Orion hit the city of Cahors on March 9 and March 10.<br /><br />"The soldiers fired into the town with weapons, and they had vehicles that were in place on all the bridges of the city and the entry points.<br /><br />"Helicopters also circled very low over the city."<br /><br />First run in 2021, Orion 23 is described by the RAF as a major exercise for France’s armed forces. They say it provides "the perfect opportunity for multinational, combined arms training in a scenario developed by NATO that exercises all the way from planning to high end war fighting".<br /><br />Planned to be realistic and testing, the exercise spans across different geographical terrains.<br /><br />Orion 23 will equally assess the cross-governmental response to crises, outside the sphere of operation for the Armed Forces.<br /><br />Gurkhas are known to be as fearless in combat as they are good natured in daily life. They are renowned for their loyalty, professionalism and bravery.
