Carrier strike group Prince of Wales dispatched by the UK and partners to the Indo-Pacific region

The United Kingdom, together with its partners, has sent a carrier strike group of ships on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.

This was reported by the press service of the Royal Navy of Great Britain.

The strike group is led by the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09), which has 24 F-35B aircraft on board. The deployment operation is called Highmast.

The deployment ceremony took place off the Portsmouth waterfront, and the British sent the destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33) along with it.

Another Royal Navy ship, the frigate HMS Richmond (F239), along with the auxiliary ship RFA Tidespring (A136), left Plymouth and will complement the strike group in the original format.

They were joined by the Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332), which underwent a modernization of combat systems and communications equipment before participating in Operation Highmast. It joined the deployment of the strike group under the auspices of Canada’s Operation HORIZON in the Indo-Pacific region.

At the same time, the frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F311) and the support ship HNoMS Maud (A530) of the Royal Norwegian Navy departed Bergen for Norway. They will join the strike group in the English Channel.

Later, they will be joined by the Spanish frigate Méndez Núñez (F104). It will stay with the group until August, after which it will return to Spain.

The first training for the carrier strike group will be exercises off the coast of France to test air defense before the force moves to the Mediterranean to work with Italian carrier forces as part of Neptune Strike maneuvers. There, the NATO exercise will test maritime strike capabilities, including the management of multiple aircraft carrier groups.

The ships will then sail through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. There, they will visit partner ports and conduct exercises with the United States, India, Singapore and Malaysia before joining the 19 nations participating in Talisman Saber maneuvers near Australia. After that, bilateral exercises with the Japan Self-Defense Forces are planned.

The deployment begins with approximately 2,500 personnel: about 2,100 British, 200 Norwegians, and a similar number of Canadians and Spaniards. The number of personnel will subsequently increase to more than 4,500 for some key exercises as the force reaches the Indo-Pacific region.

This is the second deployment of the UK’s carrier strike group. The first, led by HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) in 2021, took place amid Covid pandemic lockdowns.