F-35 jets are flying NATO air policing operations from the deck of HMS Prince of Wales to protect the skies above Iceland and the High North, the first time the alliance has conducted such operations from a European aircraft carrier, the Ministry of Defence has announced.
Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis visited the carrier off Iceland accompanied by Icelandic Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, with the Royal Navy flagship deployed under NATO command at the head of a Carrier Strike Group including the Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan and the tanker RFA Tidespring, and more than 1,500 British personnel embarked across the group.
Air policing is NATO’s standing peacetime mission to guard the airspace of allies, and Iceland, which has no military of its own, has relied on allied aircraft operating from Keflavik in rotational detachments since 2008. Basing the mission on a carrier offshore rather than a land detachment marks a departure for the alliance, and the jets have already been put to work beyond policing duties, with two F-35Bs from the ship intercepting a Russian Tu-142 Bear F on 2 July after it made repeated low passes near the carrier and dropped tens of sonobuoys close by, activity the department called unsafe and unprofessional.
“We live in an increasingly dangerous and uncertain time, and it’s deployments like this, supported by allies and partners including Iceland, that improve our deterrence and defence as part of NATO,” Jarvis said, pointing to the £298 billion being invested in defence over the next four years “to strengthen readiness and ensure our people have the kit and technology they need.”
Gunnarsdóttir said the visit of the strike group “is a clear demonstration of NATO’s enhanced presence in this strategically important region, and one that Iceland is proud to support and contribute to,” adding that activities such as Arctic Sentry reflect the alliance’s shared commitment in the challenging environment of the North Atlantic and the Arctic.
The deployment coincides with the UK taking up two new alliance commands. British Special Operations Forces assumed leadership of the Special Operations Component Command within NATO’s Allied Reaction Force on 1 July, the element the department describes as the spearhead of the force, able to deploy anywhere in the world within days, while the UK simultaneously took command of the ARF’s maritime component under Rear Admiral Mark Anderson and his battle staff. HMS Queen Elizabeth, fresh from refit at Rosyth, is preparing to serve as the floating headquarters for that force later this year, giving both of Britain’s carriers alliance roles.
It’s an often over looked benefit of the carriers, if Russia ever did try to launch a cruise missile attack on the UK then it probably needs to deploy bombers around the Kola Peninsula to the Norwegian Sea. Parking a carrier in the area gives the ability to intercept Russian bombers long enforce they are in range of the UK. Without violating Norwegian airspace there is only a limited number of flight paths the Russians can take.
If these are such Dangerous times why are we underfunding Defence by £13 bn ??
plus the Goverments mysterious black hole funding gap of over £5bn…??
Intresting HMS DUNCAN was mentioned .
A type 45 Anti Aircraft Destroyer due to be cut from the fleet in 2035-38 and of course the Cancellation of the Unaffordable Type 83 in the DIP…. ??
Our Carriers will be sitting targets , hopefully a future Goverment with a little bit more Backbone will Revisit this….
Why will they be sitting targets any more than now?
Sea Viper, Samson, be it on an escort or dispersed on T91 and T94, or maybe other defensive ships, be it a CCV or an allied vessel, land based assets, land based AEW and AAR supporting the carriers fast air.
You comment as if T45 is cut with no replacement, did you not read about T91 94, and the CCV?
On top of that, you’d bot bet against T45 being extended.
Sitting targets are actually the RAFs airfields that cannot move.