![]() Media speculation recently said warships will go through the South China Sea to the east of the island. The British have yet to decide whether the carrier strike group will be taking the long route to Japan by avoiding the Taiwan Strait in order to prevent antagonizing Beijing. On the Mediterranean leg of the deployment, HMS Queen Elizabeth will undertake dual operations with French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle.Īt other points during the deployment air and maritime forces from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Israel, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Oman, South Korea, Turkey and the UAE will operate alongside the carrier strike group. “When our carrier strike group sets sail next month, it will be flying the flag for Global Britain – projecting our influence, signaling our power, engaging with our friends and reaffirming our commitment to addressing the security challenges of today and tomorrow,” said Defense Secretary Ben Wallace in a statement. They will use existing U.K., allied and partner facilities around the region enabled by our existing global support agreements,” she said. “These forces will intentionally operate asymmetrically, without a nominated base. “We plan to deliver this through offshore patrol vessels from 2021, a littoral response group from 2023 and a permanently assigned frigate by the end of the decade,” said Baroness Annabel Goldie, the MoD’s Minister of State. The British are planning a significant increase to their maritime presence in the Indo-Pacific region if a government response to a question in the House of Lords on April 1 is anything to go by. More than 40 countries are scheduled to be visited during the deployment, with India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore at the top of the list for a step-up in a British defense effort in the region, which already includes membership of the Five Powers Defence Agreement with Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. ![]() F-35B aircraft would, on international NATO or allied deployments, engage alongside UK F-35s from our carriers,” said Wheeldon. governments, it was always intended that U.S. “Read that how you will, but as far as I am concerned, although never actually stated as such by successive U.K. ![]() “With only eight Royal Navy/Royal Air Force F-35 Bs on-board HMS Queen Elizabeth, rather typical of the criticism heard today is that because we don’t have sufficient numbers of F-35 aircraft of our own we had no choice in respect of US Marine Corps being required to make up the numbers,” he wrote in a commentary. Howard Wheeldon, a consultant and commentator here, dismissed criticism of the low numbers of British aircraft deploying on the carrier. The full complement of 48 aircraft will be available in 2026,” he said. … In December 2023, when full operational capability carrier strike is scheduled to be declared, the UK F35-B Lightning force will have a total of 37 F35-B aircraft which will support two frontline squadrons and the Operational Conversion Unit. reach 48 aircraft in quarter four of 2025. “The current, agreed F35-B Lightning procurement profile will see the U.K.
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