HMS Defender. a Type 45 Destroyer, is leading the Joint Expeditionary Force task group in the Baltic.

The task force includes vessels from Norway, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Major General Jim Morris DSO, the Commander of the UK Standing Joint Force HQ (SJFHQ) which leads the JEF, said:

“Activities such as these in the Baltic Sea are routine business for us and our JEF partners, in one of our principal areas of geographical interest. Given the current level of aggression being displayed by Russia, there has never been a more important time to ensure that freedom of navigation is maintained in the Baltic Sea.”

The UK Government say that the region is of vital strategic importance “as we seek to ensure stability and freedom of navigation in the Baltic Sea”.

According to the Ministry of Defence:

“The JEF is a UK-led force, comprising 10 nations working together to deliver forces at high readiness, across a range of roles, complementing NATO and European security. The coalition focuses on security in the Baltic Sea region, the High North and the North Atlantic, where its members are located.

In March, the Prime Minister hosted JEF leaders in London for the first ever leader-level summit. At the leaders’ summit, JEF members committed to supporting Ukraine with defensive military aid and ensuring that JEF continued to play a credible role in contributing to defence and deterrence in the region. The meeting followed meetings of Defence Ministers and Chiefs of Defence in February.

The coalition is complementary to NATO’s wider strategic posture which originated from the 2014 NATO summit in Wales. Led by the UK as framework nation, it is agile and responsive, acting flexibly either in smaller groupings or as ten nations communicating with one voice.”

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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69 COMMENTS

    • Aye spot on a flawless and impeccable display of public service

      G.O.A.T

      🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

      • Just drove into my street from work in time to see the Merlins, Chinooks and Wildcat going over. I know the fixed wing and fast air disperse further north from here. ❤

        • Happy day’s mate, glad you got to see some of it. We got two Spitfires do three flypasts over the Humber bridge tonight near me. Always a lovely sight and sound. The 70 formation of Typhoons looked really great 🇬🇧

  3. Shame no spithead Fleet review it wouldn’t of taken long with what we have now (slighty sarcastic ) Did the Silver jubilee 77 a long day but something to remember.

    • Remember 77 very well. At least the street party with jelly and ice cream. I’ve watched the Silver Jubilee and Coronation reviews on Youtube. It’s such a shame that every one seems to be smaller than the last until now when we haven’t enough ships to make it worth bothering. The thing i’ve found that amazed me the most was the 1935 review. At that time we were spending 2% of GDP on Defence just like now but we had an RN of 120.000 regulars and 80.000 reserves. Lots of reasons but the number one is the cost of the ships themselves that increase far above inflation and have been for almost a century now. Don’t know what the answer is or even if there is one but if costs continue rising over the next 100 years as they have over the last 100 we will be spending 2% on an RN with less than 10.000 regulars which is alarming.

      • Know what you mean Dave at the time of the 77 Spithead Review manpower was around 100,000 most of the equipment was manually operated, And we still felt we were under manned , the HMAS Melbourne was even there too make up the number of Flat tops we had old salts saying that the review was smaller than the last one it seems the more technical the Navy gets the smaller it becomes

        • In 1977, we actually spent over 5.5% of gdp on defence (with nuclear deterrent funded separately in addition). David is right to point out the massive rise in costs of defence equipment but it isn’t the only factor.
          The growth of outsourcing functions that used to be carried out by service personnel makes the apparent fall in headcount look worse than it is ( it’s bad enough).
          The progressive replacement of dumb munitions by guided systems means that more can be done with less. So both platforms and munitions become more complex and expensive but far fewer are needed, and fewer personnel to operate them.
          The only mitigation of the cost rise of equipment above general inflation is to adopt a hi-lo approach. The River B2 and the type 31 are real examples of the lo versus the hi of types 45 and 26.
          The USAF is looking at affordable alternatives to some of their planned F35 buy, the only way is sees of maintaining numbers.
          Ajax is an example of failing to apply this approach. The average unit cost of £9m is astonishing given the fact that most variants will perform tasks that could and should be carried out by something much cheaper.
          if we order aircraft carriers that we don’t really need, that go 100% over budget and whose intended airwings we can’t afford, something else has to go. Italy has managed a much lower budget much more effectively than UK.

          • Thanks Peter, I Realise it’s now all checks and balances and we do seem able too waste vast sums of taxpayers money it never seems too be that’s what we want and need and that’s thecprice we are going to pay not a penny less not a penny more it just seems a gravy train for making huge profits but fail to deliver on time and on budget companies and industries should be held too account rather than being awarded honours

          • Agreed. I’ve called for a better balance between quality and quantity for some time.

          • Hi DM, here’s a question does anyone ask the RN and I don’t mean the upper brass what they need or want for a fighting fleet. It’s simple really men in suits have lots of theory, men with brass hat have to much to loose, men on the ground doing the job know from experiance what is needed. Sometimes quantity is a quality all on its own.

    • I recall the 1977 Spithead Review was very impressive with only some augmentation of the RN with Commonwealth vessels – but when it was mooted that there be a Review for the Golden Jubilee it was not taken up as RN was too small and massive augmentation would be required from the Commonwealth, which would have been embarrassing.

      • Yep your right there Graham plus the fact good old Mr Blair had consigned the Royal yacht to Scotland when Labour was in power , even celebrating the 200th anniversary of trafalgar was a damp squib, and no more Royal tournament, show casing to the public what the Armed forces does might as well go virtual if you want a review I’m sure Google could help

    • List of RN and RFA ships present at the review in 1977 (as documented on the official programme):

      Royal Yacht (1)

      HMY Britannia

      Amphibious/Carriers (1 + 2)

      HMS Ark Royal
      HMS Fearless
      HMS Hermes

      Cruisers (2)

      HMS Blake
      HMS Tiger

      Destroyers (7) [5 County, 2 Type 42]

      HMS Antrim
      HMS Birmingham
      HMS Devonshire
      HMS Fife
      HMS Kent
      HMS London
      HMS Sheffield

      Frigates (31) [15 Leander, 4 Amazon, 4 Rothesay, 4 Tribal, 2 Blackwood, 1 Salisbury, 1 Whitby]

      HMS Alacrity
      HMS Amazon
      HMS Andromeda
      HMS Antelope
      HMS Apollo
      HMS Arethusa
      HMS Ariadne
      HMS Arrow
      HMS Berwick
      HMS Brighton
      HMS Charybdis
      HMS Cleopatra
      HMS Danae
      HMS Diomede
      HMS Dundas
      HMS Euryalus
      HMS Galatea
      HMS Gurka
      HMS Hardy
      HMS Hermione
      HMS Jupiter
      HMS Naiad
      HMS Nubian
      HMS Phoebe
      HMS Plymouth
      HMS Rothesay
      HMS Salisbury
      HMS Scylla
      HMS Tartar
      HMS Torquay
      HMS Zulu

      Submarines (14)

      HMS Cachalot
      HMS Churchill
      HMS Dreadnought
      HMS Ocelot
      HMS Opossum
      HMS Opportune
      HMS Oracle
      HMS Orpheus
      HMS Osiris
      HMS Otus
      HMS Sealion
      HMS Superb
      HMS Valiant
      HMS Walrus

      Mine Countermeasures Vessels (13 [4 + 9])

      FPS (4)

      HMS Alfriston
      HMS Brinton
      HMS Cuxton
      HMS Shavington

      MCM (9)

      HMS Bildeston
      HMS Bossington
      HMS Gavington
      HMS Glasserton
      HMS Iveston
      HMS Maxton
      HMS Nurton
      HMS Shoulton
      HMS Wilton

      Training Boats (3)

      HMS Cutlass
      HMS Sabre
      HMS Scimitar

      RNR (7)

      HMS Crofton
      HMS Hodgeston
      HMS Kedleston
      HMS Kellington
      HMS Peterel
      HMS Upton
      HMS Wiston

      Survey (11)

      HMS Beagle
      HMS Bulldog
      HMS Echo
      HMS Egeria
      HMS Enterprise
      HMS Fawn
      HMS Fox
      HMS Hecate
      HMS Helca
      HMS Hereld
      HMS Woodlark

      Other (7 [5 MCM + 2 FF])

      HMS Dittisham
      HMS Eastbourne
      HMS Flintham
      HMS Isis
      HMS Laleston
      HMS Lynx
      HMS Reclaim

      RFA (9)

      RFA Engadine
      RFA Gold Rover
      RFA Lyness
      RFA Olwen
      RFA Pearleaf
      RFA Sir Geraint
      RFA Sir Tristram
      RFA Stormness
      RFA Tidespring

      .. plus a whole bunch of RNAS, lighthouse, Post Office, British Rail, training vessels, other vessels and foreign military vessels.

        • Cheers Lusty, it was murder trying too get a Pint in Pompey that week the PAS boats did a non stop shuttle service out to the Ships one good thing didn’t see any fights just lots of renditions of either Rule Britiania or ,we are Sailing have never seen Spithead so illuminated with all the ships lights on the PAS boat crews did a Stirling job getting us all back

          • Lusty, it was a great time although there was one incident , in the Guildhall Square for entertainment, an escapoligist was suspended upside down from a rope attached to a crane the rope was set a light and he was hoisted ,up 40ft before he was able too escape the rope burnt through and snapped o dear didn’t survive the fall Jack being Jack Shouted ” Do it again “

      • Cheers Jacko, bit of a downer reading that , but does have a few points that seem too be that of an Ebenezer scourge bah humbug too the Fleet and would the public really complai n about sering the fleet and having a day out seeing where their Taxes go ?

  4. Turkey is posturing. It’s classic Erdogan. In the end, he will be given some meaningless face-saving statements, declare victory, and reluctantly accede to the admission of Finland and Sweden. The US has too much leverage over him. Turkey’s economy is in deep trouble. The 7% in GDP growth in the first quarter is due mainly to interest rate cuts that are unsustainable. The trade deficit and inflation are skyrocketing and the lira will crash again. Erdogan’s personal popularity is down to 33% and he faces elections next year. He fears additional US sanctions and desperately wants the F-16s he has ordered from the US that requires Congressional approval. Congress is in no mood to approve it either. It’s classic Middle East rug merchant tactics.

    • Last time I remember he was sending aid to the UK when the NHS collapsed and the Royal Air Force thanked him and the NHS as the UK government could not deliver basic services. I recall how Israel and Nordic countries refused to share any medical supplies while Erdogan gave aid plus also sold supplies to the UK . It’s best to remember good things!

      Erdogan gets what he wants and soon is starting an operation in Syria to root out PKK terrorist that for decades killed an important ally citizens . The PKK is backed by Sweden and Finland specially Sweden . Let’s see once the operation starts who they side with 🤔 Turkey can leave NATO it is not afraid of anybody as it’s a big country, it would be NATO loss though, and Russia and China will welcome them with open arms and that’s the danger we should be more worried about

      • James, not sure on your comments about Sweden backing the PKK. In the 1980s the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme declared the PKK a terrorist group, the EU of which Sweden and Finland are members have declared the PKK a terrorist group, that aside I do have a question who came first the Kurd or the Turk? As far as I understand the Kurds have been around for 2000 years plus, the most famous Kurd is Saladin of Crusader fame.
        Historicaly the Kurdish lands was the eastern half on the line of Urfa-Erzurum-Yerevan of Turkey, also in the center around Ankara and Allepo as well as NE Iraq, NW Iran Mosel-Bakhtaran. Plus some other areas of which a major area is or was NE Iran/Turkmenistan, (all geographic info from the Encyclopædia Britannica 2008). So I can understand the Kurdish peoples anger. Even at the end of WW1 and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Treaty of Sevres an independent Kurdistan was to be formed, however that did not happen instead the Turkish government declared martial law and many Kurds were displaced from their historical lands. You could argue that the Kurdish lands were a part of the Ottoman Empire and as such should be Turkish. Yet, Syria, Palistine, Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, Southern Ukraine, most of the old Yugoslavia were all part of the old Ottoman Empire. Modern Turkey has not accepted that it is not the Ottoman Empire. It is still causing problems with Greece and Cyprus and political games between the USA and Russia. Can NATO really trust Turkey to act on Article 5 if Estonia or Poland was attacked especially if Russia said it wants nothing from Turkey? If I am very blunt, it was due to the collapsing Ottoman Empire the the two Balkens wars were caused, due to these wars and Russia wanting influance in the region especially control of the Dardanelles the first world war started and due to the unresolved issues from these conflicts we had the situation of the collapsed Yugoslave Republic. Thats only the issues that the Ottomans/Turks caused in Europe I will not even get on to the issues in the Middle East. here you can make your own mind up, but they include NE Iraq, NW Iran, Kuwait, the West coast of Saudia Arabia down to Yeman, all of North Africa, Syria, Lebanon, Palistine, part of Jordan. Where do we have major flash points now, let me think Southern Ukraine, Serbia, Syria, Palistine/Isreal, Yeman, Lebanon, you could add in the Kurdish issue and you would see that many off the issues effecting Europe is from the old Ottoman Empire.
        Do I approve of acts of terror, no, however, I do not agree with Turkey and the then Mustafa Kemal Atatürk signing a treaty and then instigating a situation where martial law is declared and top it off with blameing the peoples that you have just stolen their lands from from going balistic.

        Sorry for my rant but after writing several papers on the Balkens wars and the results of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire Turkey is not top of my Christmas list.

      • Last I remember Erdogan was busy incarcerating thousands of soldiers, airmen, teachers, judges and the like as an excuse to retain ultimate power, in similar ways both Stalin and Hitler did! If Turkey wants to leave NATO, moralistically they should, strategically they are to be tolerated due to their position! However their treatment of the Kurds and other ethnic groups is a disgrace.

      • I’m also still intrigued that when you changed your avatar from Alex, to James, you then posted a comment supporting “Alex’s” opinion, as James! So, why do that? Come on son, have some balls about you and answer a direct question with a direct answer! And out of interest, what nationality are you as you are NOT British, no matter what chuff you claim.

  5. Turkey isn’t keeping Finland and Sweden out. The process takes time as each member nation has to approve them joining. Turkey hasn’t given its official response yet. There is also no mechanism in the NATO charter to boot out a member, otherwise the danger is that it a country that was about to invoke Article 5 could be booted out to by the other members do that they wouldn’t have to honour them treaty.

    Certainly Serbia should kiss goodbye to further progress on EU membership with the new gas deal it signed this week with Russia.

      • Golly a frigate bigger than an Albion.

        Must be a long list of FFBNW on a platform that large.

        Nearly as big as CdG. Impressive.

        Where have we been hiding this amazing national asset…….

        /joke

      • 49,000 tonnes and is 133 metres?!?

        I didn’t know we had built a new battleship-sized warship!

        Earlier this week, WalesLive reported that QE had just returned from Bahrain. How she got there and back I’ll never know (perhaps a TARDIS?).

        • 😳😆 a sub article also mentions RNs “two biggest carriers” which implies there are other, smaller ones….deary me who writes this dross

          49000 tonnes !!!!! 😆

          • But.. but.. everything that carriers an aircraft could be called carrier (he says impersonating a random journalist)!

            I’m sure there are many smaller carriers in the Royal Navy. Most of them are human. 😉

          • Much of the text in newspapers is now computer generated: and the staff whom they employ to proof-read are barely literate in the conventional sense. This is the reason that so many newspaper articles appear to be gobbledy-gook.

        • Must be heavily weighted down with Lead ingots as ballast for that tonnage and length , Heavy class frigate

      • We see what mistakes journalists make when it comes to defence and they are supposed to research items, one can only imagine what your average joe public knows. Especially if they get there news from planks like this

          • I would imagine now would be a good time for one. Imagine the chance to check out QE, POW, T45, Tides etc.

            Open up the two main bases and stick some other assets around the country (like they have for the Jubilee celebrations) and show the public what their money goes toward. I imagine the carriers will be a good PR exercise, particularly after the documentary. Stick a few planes on it to stop the moaners and you’d have a cracking weekend!

          • Mate. It seems so obvious as a good PR and recruitment possibility why is it not done. It’s like the powers that be actually want the military to fail. I know that’s not true and what I say is wrong but that’s how it seems sometimes.

            Army firepower demonstrations too. Went to Larkill Garrison for one.

            The flypast at least got the RAF, FAA and the AAC in the public eye and was well received it seems by the masses. Even for just the noise with few golf them even knowing what the planes were.

            One of the BBC commentators called the C17 and Atlas the Posiedon and Rivet Joint. God help us…..

          • Agreed!

            Yes, I saw that. The BBC’s coverage of the recent flypasts hasn’t been great. They focus on the crowd far too much and they show random aircraft at random times.. which means the commentary doesn’t always line up. I’m not sure if that one was a genuine mistake or if it was because he was looking at P8/RJ, but the camera focused on A400/C17.

            Just get me to do it.

            “Ah yes, Merlin. Cut from 42/28 airframes down to 30/25 by some bloody moron. But don’t worry – the navy isn’t desperate for helicopters or anything.”
            “Hercules.. being cut by our wonderful government with no replacement. But don’t worry.. they’ll spin faster than those props to tell you how much they have been used and how A400m can do 10 billion things at once!”
            “Puma.. cut from 48 down to whatever it is now by another daft cock end… aaaand evolution happens faster than its replacement!”
            “Typhoons, Apache and Hawks. Viewers, you’re gonna hate this one…”
            “P8. BUY. MORE. NOW!”

          • Brilliant stuff! One of us needs a new career and then “infiltrates” the BBC, then all hell breaks loose.

          • Well said DM , bring back the Field Gun FAA ,Dev Pompey not the Nancy Brickwoods ,but the real no holds barred , bxxxxxks too Health and Safety Field Gun Run highlight of the Royal Tournament, Burning,, Stand-by, ,Bang .All gone now thanks Tony Blair( twat)

  7. Turkey delivered the most lethal weapon Ukraine has the TB2 drones . Besides this Turkey has a more close relationship with ukraine than the UK and host peace talks and is producing 4 Corvettes for Ukraine and drones . What have Finland and Sweden done for Ukraine other bark from the sidelines? I rather have Ukraine as NATO member which Turkey backs it’s membership and not PKK terror supporters of Finland and Sweden ! Those countries will add no value. Some in the UK have Nordic fetish I’m aware of that, but it’s ok 😃

    • Did the previous post not just explain how Sweden and Finland don’t support the PKK? I’m also of the opinion the kurds(not the pkk) have had bad treatment over the years. How it could be resolved I’m not going to speculate. Just now they should be left to get on with turning northern Iraq and northern Syria into some where safe. Turkey always seems to have an issue with what is a substantial amount of its population.
      Enough violence on both sides they need to talk the situation out to be benefit of both parties.

    • James, possibly the UK has a “fetish” with the Nordic States due to our history, the first king of the three kingdoms which was England, Norway and Denmark with some parts of Southern Sweden I think it was Geatland was King Cnut. Yeep that one that tried to stop the sea. This goes back to Viking times of Beowulf written over 1000 years ago, I think it one of the first written manuscripts in the UK. Some even say that the three crowns of the Royal Danish flag stem from this period. Even the most famous date in British history 1066 is full of Norse men, the King of England, Harold, Anglo-Sax (Denmark Oops Viking or your words Nordic), King Hardrada of Norway and Harolds brother Tostig (ouch Viking/Nordic)invaded in the North of England, which Harold defeted, then William the Conqueror son of Rollo (not the sweet the first Viking ruler of the region of modern Normandy) came from Normandy a Viking (Nordic) region in modern day France who became King of England after the defeat of Harold. So you can see the peoples of the Norse nations and the UK have a long history.

      As for what has Sweden done to help NLAW to start with, several thousand Pansarskott m/86, and they are going to deliver anti ship missiles which I would think would be the RBS-15. Depending which model it would be it could be a bad hair day for any Russian ship out to 300km.

      I do have for you a question why are you so anti Sweden and Finland? What have these two nations ever done to planet earth apart from Finland which kicked the Russian backside in 1939. Sweden has never been at war since the ealy 1800s.

      As for who should and should not be a member of NATO, if the country and its people vote in a free election to join then that is their free right. As for Sweden and Finland supporting the PKK, I have said in a diffrent post, these two countries are members of the EU which has declared that the PKK is a terrorist group, that Sweden passed into law in the 1980s that the PKK is a terrorist group. So James check your facts and do some research

    • “Turkey delivered the most lethal weapon Ukraine has the TB2 drones .”
      I want to dispute this claim; while the TB2 has been tremendously important it is equally necessary to highlight that it was sold and not given for free, unlike western aid. Secondly, the U.K. and US have both provided NLAWs and Javelins, air defences and heavy artillery, due to send rocket artillery in the coming weeks. It is unfair to say that Turkeys contribution is more crucial or in fact more lethal just because it is the only one that has so far sold drones. Measuring lethality by number of damage caused, I’d say the anti-tank missiles win the day. By overall effect, I’d say American and British Rivet Joints, Air Seekers, Global Hawks and other intel-gathering equipment have changed the course of war the most. This is what caused the sinking of the Moskva, and it is how the Ukrainians are always prepared for Russian assaults. And in any case, the US has confirmed it is providing 4 Grey Eagles (Army version of the Predator UAV) without cost to Ukraine. I do not doubt more will be provided in due course. Saying that Ukraine has a closer relationship with Turkey than with the U.K. is false, flatly put. Ukraine has often referred to the U.K. as their closest ally; it is our military that advises them and us who provide intel, along with the USA. Turkey is only relevant because it has closer ties with Russia.

    • Yes Turkey SOLD TB2 drones to Ukraine, that was simply business. How many has it donated? Just 1 so that the money raised by Lithuanian crowdfunding to buy one could go to humanitarian funds instead.

      The British Army have been training the Ukrainians in country since 2014, not the Turks.

      Turkey buys agricultural produce from both Ukraine and Russia, that is why Erdogan is trying to broker peace talks. But anything other than a complete removal of Russian invasion forces is rewarding aggression, and we saw in the 30’s what’s happens when you do that.

      I’d rather have Ukraine, Finland and Sweden as members of NATO than Turkey. They are all democracies that respect the rule of law; we share the same values.
      Turkey is slowly reverting back to an theocratic authoritarian regime with nothing in common with the West and pushing it’s own radical form of Islam.

  8. Hi Phil I think you are spot on.. its a difficult time to get everyone ” singing” from the same song sheet.. Thanks for the comment. My relations were treated terribly by the Russian army in 1945 so nothing seems to have changed.

  9. Turkey is an odd one, on one side they seem fairly pro Russia on the other they have closed off the bosphorus to Russia warships, resulting in them not being able to replace their sunken crusier.

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