In pitch blackness, the lights of the twin engine C-146A Wolfhound aircraft lit up a tiny strip of asphalt, and out of the darkness, the special forces plane touched down with a noisy, dramatic landing.
With a landing zone only six metres wide, for the pilots at the controls, there was no room for error.
A special forces team on the ground had blocked a two-lane highway in rural Latvia, about two hours from the capital Riga, and converted it into an improvised runway to airlift a simulated wounded soldier. British, American, and Latvian soldiers were all part of the drill aimed at improving
