The Royal Air Force and French Air and Space Force are joining forces for a major deployment to the Indo-Pacific region this summer, according to a press release.
This effort involves participating in two major exercises in Australia and Hawaii.
The Anglo-French operation, branded as Exercise Griffin Strike, is a joint initiative under the Combined Joint Expeditionary Force. “Exercise Griffin Strike is an ideal activity to test a combined headquarters on a real-time activity rather than a purely exercise construct,” stated Air Commodore Farrell, Assistant Chief of Staff Operations, 11 Group RAF, quoted in the news release.
The exercise will involve airborne tanker and transport aircraft supporting fighter jets on a nearly 10,000-mile journey to Australia.
The aircraft will assemble in Lyon, France, and make stops in the Middle East and Singapore before arriving in Darwin, Australia. Once there, they will participate in Exercise Pitch Black, a biennial air exercise led by the Royal Australian Air Force. The RAF will deploy Typhoons from XI (F) Squadron and a Voyager from RAF Brize Norton, joining units from 19 other nations for the three-week exercise.
The RAF’s Air Mobility Force will also provide transport aircraft to support participation and recovery back to the UK, as detailed in the press release.
Simultaneously, the RAF Poseidon P-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft will participate for the first time in the US Navy-led Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC, in Hawaii. This will be the furthest range and longest duration exercise for the RAF Poseidon Force to date, involving various operational scenarios, including disaster relief.
Wing Commander Jim Henderson, Detachment Commander, highlighted the importance of RIMPAC for the RAF Poseidon Force: “As the first global exercise for RAF Poseidon, RIMPAC will be a good test of our ability to deploy at long range and then operate with allies and partner nations in a challenging and unfamiliar environment,” he said in the press release.
“The exercise is the latest step in the continued growth of the Poseidon Force and a reflection of how far we’ve come since we received our first aircraft four years ago.”
Now I like the Typhoon, but I also like the Rafael, which one is best? There’s only one way to find out, FIGHT!!!
🤣🤣🤣
A ‘fight’ will not necessarily define which is the best fighter as it will depend on the quality of the pilots on what the pilots are allowed to do. You don’t always want to use your war modes (radar, EW and missiles) and give too much away as the Rafael is used by a lot of nations. Respectful and wise nations rarely boast about the outcomes of exercises – we prefer to learn from them instead.
Someone never watched Harry Hills TV Burp!!
Sorry, you are correct….(laughing emoji at this point)…
It’s ok mate, just my crap sense of humour 🙄
Let’s hope the pilots didn’t
As long you avoid crossing China’s red line
Because if you do then you will certainly find out what a fight really means
And that is over and done for you in minutes
China refers to their defences within their redline as the 2 Nd Great wall and a access Denial zone
They mean every single word of that
Whatever. Read the article again. A stopover in Singapore and the middle east. Exercise takes place in Hawaii and Australia. Nothing to do with China.
Ahem. Troll alert. Read history.
And Geography !
Sorry Posse, I’ve just recalled you’ve dealt with him before.
👍😊. It’s syntax is as tortured as ever!!
That’s the thing. They think it’s incognito.
A genuine Brit can see it at once, if they’re half awake.
I recall it saying how ” Lowland Scots is my mother tongue…..” 😃
You said something along the lines of “if you’re a Gaelic speaker I’m a Croat!”
😃😃👌 it tried to say ” Kiss my ass ” in Gaelic. Failed miserably with the spelling.!!
Correct, ostensibly there is no association w/ ChiCom activity in the SCS, but willing to wager that simultaneous deployments of P-8As and Typhoons to I-P theater is not an entirely random event. CSG25 deployment w/in SCS, future Astute class deployments to HMAS Stirling from 2026, relatively recent deployment of RM contingent to SK (for the first time since Korean Conflict), Army joint exercises w/ Japan, SSN-A development under AUKUS Pillar I, GCAP development in conjunction w/ Japan etc. Absolutely guarantee all these are being noted, logged and analyzed in Beijing. Probable ChiCom conclusion: UK PLC is beginning to practice for… Read more »
Oh yes I have read with proper due diligence the entire article and draw your particular attention to Singapore , Darwin and RIMPAC So from China and other South Asian nations who in main with a few exceptions are all peaceful and Non Aggressive who wish for the Indo Pacific region to remain peaceful without Western interference So let’s home in Darwin and RIMPAC 1 Darwin home to a very large US Naval and Airbases , which in turn can easily be used to deploy against China who have openly stated that any military bases out with their Red Line… Read more »
😃😃😃. Know your foe huh ? We’ve noticed your tortured syntax, mangled grammar, poor spelling and Beijing fictional hypothesis on every post.
We’ve all experienced the absolute junk that is Chinese food.
If I look around my house and see anything that has ‘Made in China ‘ on it or contains Chinese components, then it’s either broken, about to break or doesn’t work properly.
Stick to your knock off websites, wet markets, deep fried bat and internet scams, it’s about all you’re good for.
At the very least, you should apologise for Covid19.
😂😂😂
You mean with an air force using warmed over Russian designs and pilots with zero combat experience?
Now, I will grant you that they probably have more planes than we do missiles but that’s a whole other conversation……
Do not forget the ex RAF pilots who have sold themselves to China to train the PLAAF in western techniques. Personally I would like to see them swing from a rope for treason. On the other hand, the Chinese have absorbed and implemented the lessons, and can provide “mass”.
Oh dear me you so devoid of simple basic facts 1 China’s J21 5th generation stealth fighter is equipped with Chinese Twin engines 2 China’s 6 th. generation fighter will soon be in production Tell me where USA and UK ones are ? 3. The Typhoon is a 4.5 generation Incapable of Aircraft carrier ops Therefore for long distance missions requires refuelling tankers China has created huge resources specifically to take out refuelling tankers 4 Western Air Defence specialists all laughed when the J 21 first appeared and it’s particularly heavy airframe.Not now Qoute Pentagon ‘ The J21 has turned… Read more »
During WW11, there was a German Mouthpiece called “Lord Haw Haw” He was hanged, just saying.
😎
Oh how utterly delusional you all are I was most fortunate to be educated and trained to be a Scientific research officer by one of the most eminent of her generation of Geneticists thereby full understanding exactly how ,were and deploy the information you have found All my info is entirely derived from reputable reliable sources that in main have no axe to grind Consisting of Academic studies and the likes of Reuters Some ancient wisdom for you regards conflict Always display your humility whilst hiding your Strengths China does so Adhering strictly to Confucious A universal law of war… Read more »
Thats easy for you to say…
It’s always so easy and simple to state what is irrefutable facts and truth
Why because Truth is the only possible thing that can exist
Anything else can only be a figment of a delusions mind
Yawn. 💤
🤣😂😁👍
Totally Baker – man, is that guy seriously drinking the Chinese Kool-Aid!!!
Bit of an issue with your lovely story. A US carrier hasn’t been in the Taiwan straits since the F35 entered service.
But hey why let facts get in the way of of propaganda
F35 and Typhoon are not able to be upgraded due to lightweight airframes?? Is this guy a joke? You haven’t heard of the Blk4 upgrade for F35 or the many capability enhancements to Typhoon?? Take your copy cat Chinese junk with those smokey old Russia designed engines. A 20 year old F16 could handle these Chinese jets. 5th generation they certainly are not.
Are you a Chinese friend of Harold perchance?
He is. Been a while since he surfaced.
He’s always on here, just changes profiles, you can see the same ingredients each time, he even impersonates others on here. 🙄
For F**K sake whenever have I changed my profile name
As the accuser the burden of proof
Firmly rests with you
Well a year ago you were called Brian Doyle then 7 months ago you changed it to John Brian Doyle. Your question answered and the proof can be found on your activity section.
As for your different user profiles, it’s pretty obvious to most of us. 😎
You must have a new profile yourself, then? Or have lurked for some time, with only a few dozen posts over a few weeks?
I’ve been looking in for years, I look in on Navy Lookout, Janes, BAE Systems, Lockheed, Leonardo, FB, X and a fair few more, occasionally I read some stuff and join in. It was @ two years ago I was last on here posting, Borg was the name, It still seems that certain others are here under different user profiles. You and a few others have just kept your names and stayed posting, I just flit from pillar to post ! This JBD profile just cracks me up. There have been many others over the years. You are a real… Read more »
I remember the name!
I even welcomed you to the forum I recall, then you f***** off and never heard back from you!!
Lol, it matters not. 👍
No mate, I commented a few billion times, then I got Banned !!! These sites are great but comments are easy to take the wrong way and Admin are trigger happy. There is no way to dispute admin’s take on a comment, hence myself having to re-invent my profile. Having said that though, I always stick to non aggressive and humour based replies even if they get mis conscrewed (not sure if that is the correct spelling, my Laptop just flagged it up ) You were one of the very first people to comment on this site way back some… Read more »
Oh and for a few post’s, I was “Ivan Kalot” but Admin never liked the content or humour of my posts. It was rather complicated and I do see how they failed to grasp the intended light hearted lilt. “Gunny Bang Bangs” went down well for a while though.
😆
I’m one of the few I suspect who use my real name. I have nothing to hide, or a military background that might need protecting.
I know mate. To be honest, It was a long time back on here that my Civvy background was completely Savaged by a few rather aggressive ex forces types, all I was doing was having conversations about stuff I had a great interest in. My knowledge was Historical rather than Actual but It seemed that only Ex forces were allowed to comment here despite the Forum owners lack of Military experience. I really love this site for the real mix of Journalistic brilliance and the commentators experience/knowledge despite any actual service records. You are a real Diamond on here, I… Read more »
Thank you.
Having fallen foul of some angry ex military myself, for having the temerity to have some knowledge, I’d back you all the way on that.
No military experience is sometimes used as a stick to beat one with when they’ve nothing else to fall back on.
Those types are few though, and my respect for my military co commentators here who accept me as I am is limitless.
Ivan Kalot’s posts were so funny!!
This person has more profiles than Facebook, one minute he’s (she’s) a Tarter,(she’s gone rather quiet hasn’t she ?) then a Greek historian, (think he was blocked) then a bloke in “MK”,(where are you ?) then a Welsh Priest,(sussed that out rather easily) the list is endless. He’s very good though, it takes some serious effort and an equally serious personality disorder to maintain such an epic run without being banned.😄
I’m still here enjoying the comment section thank you
Lol, right on cue, I knew if I mentioned (hinted) your name (other profile), you’d turn up again. Hello you amazing multi profile account holder, it’s great to fish in the fish rich waters that this site provides. I expected your arrival after you managed to reply to everyone else before coming back at me. Last time I called your name, you arrived a bit sooner but I guess you needed time to work it out ! Anyway, nice to see you again, maybe you can enlighten us all on how well your Russian neighbors are doing in their 3… Read more »
Pssst, In the article above, there is a nice graphic showing the flight plan or route it clearly shows that these aircraft will be no where near China, not even close, maybe you should buy a map and familiarise yourself.✈✈
I well aware of Flight paths however the USA is fastidiously working to garner allies to suppress China And as America now firmly in the grip of the Defence and fossil fuel industries and all thanks to a Supreme court ruling in the late 1960, s whereby they ruled that there no limit to the monies that can be donated to Senators , Congress and presidential candidates for political campaigns At a stroke this removed over a hundred years of guardrail legislation that usurped American Democracy All this has resulted in a situation that if not checked then The Mad… Read more »
😂😂😂 Oh deary deary me.
Ummm…er…could we distill this diatribe into the simple statements: “We are the Borg Collective (aka ChiComs). Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.” You may be assured the Federation has an alternative plan.
What a lot of drivel and utter Bovine Scatology
Even The UK news paper The Times
Published numerous articles highlighting the serious pitfalls when the UK confirmed their order for F35, s
Of course all completely ignored
Along with the terrible consequences upon UK defence budgets which has resulted in a even faster decline of actual defence capabilities
And at this juncture I now rest my case
Any future serious conflict shall be the Jury upon such matters
…..zzzZZZ
According to your reading of things Confucianism presumably advocates stealing others wealth and intellectual property, hostage diplomacy, coercive measures against individuals abd groups (even those that the authorities know are innocent) and outright lying when said authorities are caught doing any and all of the above ( plus any I’ve forgotten to mention). Because that is what the Chinese Govt. advocates, supports and carries out every single day.
NOTHING to be proud of.
Welcome John from Beijing. Appropriate surname by the way.
👍 (Had to reread to grasp your intent.😁)
Get your facts correct
It’s welcome from Edinburgh
The only matter that is in excess
Of your presumptuous arrogance
Appears to be Stupidy
is this some sort of Cinquain?
Are you in the massive Chinese compound at Murrayfield in Edinburgh? I always wondered why China needed such a massive diplomatic presence in a state capital.
Certainly not And I compelled to correct you Edinburgh is not a State capital If it were so then the Chinese building in Edinburgh would not be a consulate it would be a Embassy International Diplomatic protocol Demands that another States Embassy is located in the host States capitol and consulates located in Regions, Colonies or protectorates of the State who govern the latter If I was your Tutor and upon such Basic inaccuracy presented in writing upon given task Then you be very firmly and clearly Informed that should you continue to present such basic and glaringly Obvious errors… Read more »
Honestly I’m not sure which is worse, your lack of grasp of the English language or your ignorance of the United Kingdom legal structure of which you claim to be from. A state is a subdivision of a country The United Kingdom is a country. Scotland is a state of that country. The United States is a country California is a state Australia is a country New South Wales is a state Germany is a country Bavaria is a state. Edinburgh has a consulate because it’s a state capital. If you are going to do trolling for the Chinese state… Read more »
Punctuation not your strongpoint, use of capitols very bad/ borderline poor.
Must try harder. 😂
You should know the UK does not have state capitals 🤣🤣🤣🤣. Poor performance my Chinese friend.
China has impressive forces that have never really been tested in combat. UK / US / NATO air forces attend very realistic exercises and have been at ‘war’ with various ‘factions’ for over 30 years. China has numbers but not necessarily the tactics and know how to fight and win. Look at Russia’s performance regarding Ukraine – a ‘3 day’ operation to take Kiev……..
Oh my!!!!! Really?
It’s Rafale actually! 😉
The 3G throwback non-retractable refueling probe is the only reason needed to reject piece of French junk.
Nothing could pleased me more than this mission together in the Pacific. Last year, 🇫🇷 sent 14 planes, I thought that it wasn’t enough. I am really happy that the joint expeditionary force 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 starts to assemble in this air mission.
I just remark that Typhoon go to the refuel a bit more often than Rafale… What about pilotes? 😉
Will a variation of this exercise be conducted in support of CSG25? Combined arms exercises are routinely held by NATO; the same pattern should be replicated in the I-P. 🤔
Seems like they are doing this every year to Darwin now so I presume so but don’t know if CSG25 will be visiting Australia.
This goes to show just how capable NATO+ forces are in comparison to the Autocracy forces . Imagine China or Russia both rapidly deploying combat jets like this to Venezuela, no chance. Most major European airforces have now deployed combat jets to Australia in the past year.
Would rather not dwell on the potential capabilities of the ChiComs next decade. PLA/PLAAF/PLAN could all metastasize like cancer Agree that the Orcs are probably caged for the foreseeable future, unless they expand thru Europe.
I agree next decade is likely the danger point, after that their demographics will prohibit them from any action. By the end of the century the combined population of the five eyes countries will likely exceed them.
Not too sure but I believe that currently the 5 eyes population is about a billion short of China’s, given the 75 year time frame, that’s a lot of “copulation for the population” !
Current projections for 2100 are
US 370m
UK 80m
Canada 54m
Australia 42m
NZ 6 m
China 700m
However population projects over the last few decades have consistently over estimated China population which is likely much smaller than they currently state and under estimated the growth in English speaking countries.
With regards English speaking nations
Care to let us all know
In terms of being able to Read ,Write and properly speak to communicate
As to what language is the most numerous globally today
If you savvy enough and go research then you in for one helluva
Fright
Well it’s not English in first language that’s for sure.
But English is easily the fastest growing. In 2100 virtually everyone will speak English at least as a second language.
I have seen certain predictions and you are correct by all accounts, English will be and is on track to be the most spoken language later this century.
Totally wrong Spanish is the fastest growing language ( There more Spanish Speakers in the USA Than English ones ) And as for the most profilic global language tis Classical Arabic Which in turn goes a long way to explain why the West is rapidly losing its Hegomonic grip upon Global geo political economic and Military affairs as Islamic and Arab States now alining themselves with China and the global Sth by way of the BRICS intitative which has China , India , Brazil , Russia , Saudi Arabia , UAE along with many more having Full membership along with… Read more »
India aligned with China? do you live in an alternate universe?
More the Fool you are India has full Membership Of the BRICS initiative Go study and here’s what you.shall Discover 1. All participating members whilst trading with each can agree to exchange goods using their own currency or another by mutually agreeing as opposed to using the $ This has at a stroke giving massive Advantage for it’s economy over Western economies by way of the Purchase of Russian Oil & Gas at heavily discounted prices Note Saudia Arabia also a full BRIC member and now accepts payment for its Natural resources by fellow BRICS member Nations currencies 2. All… Read more »
Every single word in your paragraph is just a lie, I’m not bothering to debate you, you have no idea what your saying. You’re just making shit up.
You’re certainly not from Edinburgh as you claim.
And, Terrible punctuation from one playing the pedant card earlier.
Walter Mitty springs to mind !
In all my years I’ve never seen China’s population as low as 700 million, virtually every census put’s the current population at 1.4 Billion and equal to India’s or there about.
In order for this to decline, there would have to be some pretty serious decline in birth rate and a death rate unseen in history before.
Can you put a link on here as I would love to read it for myself.
The 700 million in (2100) figure is from the UN and supported by the Chinese government although even they are unsure on their current numbers as census data has been faked for decades. They may have 100 million less people now than they claim. You may have heard of the one child policy, it worked really well. Now they can’t get people to have one child. China has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. They are at 1.16 and that’s rapidly dropping. All of east Asia is the same. They also have close to zero scope for… Read more »
Morning Jim, out of interest, I started looking into this as you got me wondering. Just on Wiki it says that Chinese official figures are 1.41 Billion and that between 2021-2, there was a population decrease of 850,000 (disputed) however I’d be amazed even given the current low birth rate that the population would halve by 2100. Just my personal thoughts though. Either way it will be interesting to see what happens, same thing regarding India and other Asian populations.
Interesting post.👌
According to World Bank, PRC has an average life expectancy of 79. According to OECD, without migration, a nation needs a birth rate of 2.1 to maintain its population. So in 2100 (a little over 75years), most people alive in China today will be dead or close to. If 2.1 keeps it level, 1.1 will halve it.
India is currently sitting at just over 2.1 (it’s been steadily dropping), with its population to max out in around 40 years at around 1.7 billion.
I really do regret this is an RAF deployment. If we think about it logically we should be using the FAA F35 contingent here and thinking about Naval aviation in the India-Pacific.
Otherwise we are back to 1965 and the RAF’s island sea control ideas using F111’s and the disasterous Healey cuts! Remember that, I do. Oh that’s a not so funny coincidence.
Anything East of the Middle East should always be FAA and linked in some form with RN.
It seems obvious the RAF is out to prove once more we dont need Naval Aviation.
The current level of FAA Aircraft numbers (Joint RAF) would negate any possibility of such an op, together with the fact that both Carriers are either OOA for months or tied up in port having intensive maintenance. This lays bare the total lack of foresight and shocking lack of care the previous two governments have given to out armed forces and their capabilities. To be able to send a small contingent of aircraft and crew 10 thousand miles away is a miracle in itself, to my mind. Current airworthy Fighter numbers way below 100 is a staggeringly low number and… Read more »
Most of the public don’t give a toss, and politicians know it.
And that will only get worse, how many of our population were not even born here? As the migrant population expands, some integrate, many don’t.
Why should migrants have any interest whatsoever in the armed forces of the nation that settles them?
Save a war, I cannot see the vast majority of the population sitting up and taking notice, or even realising just what has happened to the armed forces since the 90s.
Yes you are right on all points.
I’m not sure I share your nostalgia for the forces of the 90’s, I was in the TA late 90’s, all our kit was shit. Our rifles didn’t work, radio’s were always an issue and boots would fall to bits. Loads of tanks, most in maintenance, cheap as chip carriers with limited planes escorted by cheap as chips destroyers with dated missiles not fitted for but not with just not fitted with basics like sea wolf to save a few quid. I look at the kit the guys have today over all three branches, everything seems much better than what… Read more »
Morning Jim.
Yes, the numbers bother me.
Who said I have nostalgia? The cuts I highlight beyond the 91 OFC were financial.
I’m not saying we must return to those levels, and you know well enough that I talk up our capabilities and quality, like you’re doing.
But the fact remains, we are now too small. Even modest increases in certain areas are vital.
Interesting you were TA. Only a few units in Scotland if you were in a Scots based outfit.
I see Ex Pitch Black has now started. But the headline maker so far has been the arrival in Darwin for participation in the exercise of the Italian Navy’s Cavour Carrier Strike Group. It’s become an embarrassment that a RN TG hasn’t visited Australia for 26(?) years. All eyes now on an announcement by the new government concerning CSG25, will it go ahead and if so how many warships and aircraft will be assigned? Assigning two frigates and two destroyers would denude UK water of escorts, whilst an air group of 18 F-35B’s would leave few or none operational, combat… Read more »