The UK Royal Navy (RN) has kick-started its global carrier strike group (CSG) deployment by participating alongside the Italian Navy (ITN) and other NATO partners in Exercise ‘Med Strike’ in the central Mediterranean Sea.
The RN’s HMS Prince of Wales CSG sailed for its eight-month ‘CSG25’ deployment from the North Atlantic ocean to the Indo-Pacific theatre in late April. With the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales at the CSG’s core, embarking 24 F-35B Lighting II joint strike fighter aircraft, other CSG assets include the RN’s Type 45 air-defence destroyer HMS Dauntless and Type 23 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigate HMS Richmond; the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec, Royal Norwegian Navy Fridtjof Nansen-class frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen, and the Spanish Navy Alvaro de Bazan-class frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez, with these ships all being multirole platforms; an RN Astute-class nuclear-powered submarine (SSN); and two UK and one Norwegian support ship.
‘CSG25’ will demonstrate UK national presence, interest, and influence in the Indo-Pacific theatre as its core mission. However, the deployment’s Mediterranean phase will also demonstrate the contribution of a CSG capability to national, NATO, and wider international security interests in the Euro-Atlantic theatre.
This latter point is particularly important, given the significant security and strategic uncertainty in NATO’s area of responsibility (AOR) that has developed since 2022 as a consequence of the Russo-Ukraine war, with broader regional instability building before and around the conflict.
‘Med Strike’ was designed to help demonstrate NATO’s integrated deterrent capability with assets as significant in military output as a CSG.
Commencing on 5 May, the week-long exercise was designed to bring the various CSG components together on operations to deliver integrated effect. The ITN’s ITS Cavour CSG also participated. Total platform numbers included 21 warships, three submarines, 41 fast jets, 19 helicopters, and ten patrol aircraft, the RN said in a statement. Alongside offensive carrier strike operations, the exercise practiced and demonstrated defensive activities including air defence and ASW.
France, Portugal, Spain, Türkiye, and the United States also participated.
“This is a major moment in the UK CSG’s global deployment, and will test our skills alongside NATO allies in a region of fundamental importance to UK security,” Commodore James Blackmore, the RN’s Commander UK CSG (COMUKCSG) said, in the statement. “Working at the heart of a powerful NATO force sends a strong message, and shows clearly the phenomenal capabilities that not only the UK possesses but the alliance as a whole.”
CSG deployments are a central component of the UK’s strategic-level relationship-building with NATO partners. While ‘CSG25’ includes Canada, Norway, and Spain amongst its partners, for ‘CSG21’ (the previous deployment) the Netherlands and the United States contributed surface ships as partners (with the US also provide US Marine Corps F-35Bs).
Prior to participating in ‘Med Strike’, the CSG took part in NATO’s ‘Neptune Strike’ CSG activity, which is designed to maintain Euro-Atlantic security through deterring threats to freedom of navigation, the RN statement said.
by Dr. Lee Willett, London
