See BBC article.
UK F-35Bs from UK carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth will soon strike Islamic State targets in Iraq.
Also many other UK Carrier Strike Group 21 world tour activities and exersizes with allies from May to December 2021 - all the way to the Pacific Ocean and back.
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In great detail Richard Gardner (London) for top source Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter (APDR) reports (in part) in APDR's June 2021 magazine:
"Final preparations have been underway at Portsmouth during late April [2021] for the departure of Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) which will see the largest UK naval deployment to Asia Pacific waters for a generation. The flotilla of ships will deploy for 28 weeks, through the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and South China Sea into the Pacific and represents the most ambitious Royal Navy overseas projection of sea power since the Falklands Task Force in 1982.
A very wide selection of vessels will be involved, apart from the flagship, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, and will include Type 45 destroyers, HMS Defender and HMS Diamond, Type 23 frigates, HMS Richmond and HMS Kent, the new offshore patrol vessel, HMS Tamar, an Astute Class nuclear submarine and fleet support ships, RFA Fort Victoria and RFA Tidespring.
Adding an international flavour will be a US Navy Destroyer, the USS Sullivans, and a Dutch frigate, HNLMS Evertse. As well as promoting defence exports along the way, and underlining the UK’s renewed commitment to a more global outreach, the opportunity will be fully exploited to exercise sea and air assets with other friendly nations, gaining experience through cross operating with very diverse equipment and capabilities, including co-ordinated command and control and tactical operations.
The carrier air group will see the intensive use of new aircraft types working together on a longdistance deployment for the first time. The 18 F-35B combat aircraft will see crews from the Royal Navy, RAF and US Marines working together as a group, following intensive training and working up on the new aircraft in the USA and UK. For the Royal Navy the step up in combat capability is considerable, moving to a stealthy, supersonic, fifth-generation fighter/attack platform, aboard a highly automated 65,000 tonne carrier.
The RN has suffered a serious capability gap in recent years following the withdrawal of three Invincible Class 22,000 tonne carriers and their Sea Harrier and Harrier GR9 aircraft. However, the deliveries of UK F-35Bs to date have been relatively small and are being spread three ways between development and training units in the USA and UK and just a single operational squadron, No 617, a joint RAF/RN unit.
The second operational squadron, No 809 Naval Air Squadron, will become operational in 2023 when 37 F-35Bs should be deployable. On CSG21 the inclusion of a USMC squadron within the air group is a bonus for both the UK and USMC and the huge four acre deck and vast hangar of the new carrier has been designed to accommodate 40 aircraft, so operating and maintenance space is not a problem. Several Asia-Pacific nations will be taking a particular interest in seeing up close how the F-35Bs can work closely with helicopters as many already have, or are planning, new small carriers and since the demise of Harrier production, there is currently no other combat jet apart from the F-35B that can use them. The USMC may be the largest user of F-35Bs but is still operating Harriers on its own helicopter landing platform ships as it transitions to the new aircraft.
NEW HELICOPTER PLATFORMS [see in APDR's June 2021 magazine]
Over 40 different countries will be visited during CSG21 and the ships will conduct extensive sea exercises, expected to include working with ships and aircraft from India, South Korea, Singapore,
Taiwan, Japan and Australia. The passage to Japan is expected to be controversial and will involve a balance between avoiding what might be regarded by China as provocation in their backyard, and the opportunity to display a robust show of resolve in support of regional maritime forces committed to the protection of internationally recognised free shipping routes across the South China Sea.
DAZZLING SPECTACLE
One of the new Royal Navy ships will be reviving a tradition that has not been seen at sea on a Royal Navy ship since the end of the Second World War. The OPV HMS Tamar is heading to the A-P region carrying a “dazzle” camouflage paint scheme incorporating various shades of black, white and grey in unusual shapes. This was designed to make it most distinctive - but the purpose of this scheme is the use the different shapes, angles and colours to make the ship harder to identify and to confuse those seeking to calculate its speed and direction, especially when looking through a submarine periscope.
Commander David Louis, Commander of the Overseas Patrol Squadron said... "The Royal Navy’s ships will once again become more familiar in Asia-Pacific waters after CSG21 returns to the UK, and will be followed by further deployments of frigates and larger ships next year."
SEE FULL ARTICLE IN APDR'S JUNE 2021 MAGAZINE
Breaking news and not a small one: President Moon is in DC. According to the announcement, The US will terminate guidelines that limits ROK on missile development. That's WOW.
ReplyDeleteKQN
Thanks KQN
ReplyDeleteAbout this major US-South Korean development The[South] Korea Herald, May 22, 2021 reports http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210522000070
"S. Korea, US agree to end missile guidelines"
"WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced a joint decision Friday with the United States to terminate guidelines that have long restricted Seoul's development of missiles.
He was speaking right after the summit with President Joe Biden at the White House.
"I am pleased to announce the termination of the missile guidelines," Moon told reporters, with Biden standing next to him.
Moon described it as a "symbolic and substantive" measure demonstrating the robustness of the alliance along with a recent deal on sharing the cost for American troops stationed on the peninsula.
First signed in 1979 and revised four times, the guidelines have put limits on South Korea's missile development program.
The accord was introduced under the Park Chung-hee government's bid to secure related technology transfer from the ally. In return, Seoul agreed to cap its ballistic missiles to a range of 180 kilometers and a payload to 500 kilograms.
Through ensuing revisions, the range was extended to 800km with the payload restriction lifted. In the latest revision made public in July 2020, Seoul won Washington's approval for the development of solid-propellant space rockets.
The liberal Moon administration has been pushing to beef up South Korea's own defense capabilities. Moon's aides say the termination of the bilateral guidelines means "missile sovereignty" for South Korea....MORE ON US-SK rels"