British and American aircraft carriers have sailed together in the Pacific during Exercise Talisman Sabre 25.
HMS Prince of Wales and USS George Washington operated side-by-side on 18 July alongside a combined escort force including warships from Canada, Norway, and the United States.
The Royal Navy carrier, flying F-35B Lightning jets and supported by Merlin and Wildcat helicopters, integrated with its US Navy counterpart as part of UK Carrier Strike Group 25’s deployment to the Indo-Pacific. Their formation included the guided missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls, destroyer USS Shoup, Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec, and Norway’s HNoMS Roald Amundsen.
Exercise Talisman Sabre is an Australian and US-led multinational exercise now in its 11th iteration. Spread across the Northern Territory and Queensland from Darwin to Brisbane, the 2025 edition involves around 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations, with three more observing.
PO Phot Rory Arnold
According to the Royal Navy, the UK carrier strike force is being sustained at sea by RFA Tidespring, while amphibious and land elements of the exercise will see Royal Marines Commandos working alongside a Ranger Battalion from the British Army and RAF Voyager aircraft. Frigate HMS Richmond and destroyer HMS Dauntless are among the other British ships deployed.
Talisman Sabre 25 is designed to demonstrate integrated deterrence and allied readiness across the Indo-Pacific, reinforcing multinational maritime partnerships in a contested strategic environment.
HMS Prince of Wales
HMS Prince of Wales is the second of the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and serves as the current Fleet Flagship. Commissioned on 10 December 2019, she was constructed at Rosyth Dockyard, launched in December 2017, and delivered to the Royal Navy in 2019. The vessel began sea trials in September 2019 and arrived at her homeport, HMNB Portsmouth, in November that year. Her commissioning ceremony coincided with the 78th anniversary of the sinking of the World War II battleship of the same name. Under the command of Captain Will Blackett since 2024, HMS Prince of Wales is one of the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy.
The carrier displaces approximately 70,600 tonnes, measures 284 metres in length, and has a draught of 11 metres. She is designed around a Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) aviation model, lacking catapults or arrestor wires. The air wing is currently planned to comprise up to 48 F-35B Lightning II aircraft and Merlin helicopters for airborne early warning and anti-submarine warfare.
The flight deck includes two aircraft lifts, a ski-jump ramp, and facilities for refuelling and rearming. Below deck, the ship features a hangar and 9 internal decks, supporting a total embarked force of up to 1,600 personnel, including 250 Royal Marines.
HMS Prince of Wales is equipped with a range of modern sensors and self-defence systems, including the S1850M long-range radar, Type 997 Artisan 3D radar, and Phalanx CIWS for close-in threats. The ship carries Sea-class workboats and Pacific 24 RIBs for operational support and boarding operations. Designed with flexibility in mind, she can operate a range of rotary-wing platforms such as Chinook, Apache, Merlin, and Wildcat helicopters, and accommodates large-scale amphibious operations.
The ship is powered for speeds in excess of 25 knots and has an operational range of 10,000 nautical miles, enabling sustained deployments such as the current 2025 Carrier Strike Group mission, Operation HIGHMAST.
Was reading an article about the Tigershark and Skyshark series of long range drones- indigenous British design and technology- useful sized drones with 20+kg warhead- crucially can be launched from shortened runways, by catapult or by ramp or sky jump- i think that would be a very useful capability for the RN to have, approach a target launch hundreds of drones, turn and move away- range of 200+kms is decent.
Try Emailing Healey, I’m sure he’ll be able to arrange a meeting to discuss the suggestion. More Rich Tea’s required from the budget.
I’m more an Expresso kind of “Dude” personally.
“More tea Vicar ?”.
Presently the Russians are burning through 4000 FPV drones A DAY and are achieving almost nothing. It’s what you do if you can’t get air supriority. It’s a stupid way to fight a war.
I agree it is completely different if you can simultaneously delivery heavy missile strike to take out all AAW.
Then deliver missile strikes to take out all armour with overwatch from F35 operates freely.
Then use loads of cheap precise shorter range missiles, backed with 155mm to take out positions based on ELINT.
Then you can roll your armour through.
Frankly if you could deliver that package in a 10 minute window the other side wouldn’t know what had hit them it would be chaos. It is about delivery a devastating first punch and not allowing time to regroup.