The United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group has concluded Exercise Konkan alongside the Indian Navy with a ceremonial sail past led by HMS Prince of Wales and India’s indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, the UK Defence Journal understands.
The formation also included the Japanese destroyer Akebono. Alongside HMS Prince of Wales and INS Vikrant were INS Surat, INS Mormugao, HNoMS Roald Amundsen, HMS Richmond, INS Teg, INS Kolkata, INS Tabar, RFA Tidespring, and INS Deepak.
In a statement posted on social media, the official UK Carrier Strike Group account said:
“Sailing strong together. We’ve concluded #ExKonkan. A proud moment as the Strike Group conducted a ceremonial sail past led by HMS Prince of Wales with the Indian task group led by INS Vikrant.”
INS Vikrant is India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier and one of two currently in service with the Indian Navy, alongside INS Vikramaditya. Constructed by Cochin Shipyard Limited, the 45,000-tonne carrier is a symbol of India’s growing maritime self-reliance. The vessel’s name, meaning “courageous” in Sanskrit, honours India’s first aircraft carrier commissioned in 1961. Its motto, “जयेम सं युधिस्पृधः,” translates as “I defeat those who dare to challenge me.”
Commissioned in September 2022 after more than two decades of development, Vikrant measures 262 metres in length, with a top speed of around 30 knots powered by four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines. It accommodates over 1,600 crew and can carry up to 36 aircraft, including MiG-29K fighters and MH-60R helicopters.
The UK’s Carrier Strike Group, commanded by Commodore James Blackmore, Royal Navy, is now over halfway through its eight-month Operation Highmast deployment. Led by HMS Prince of Wales and involving a dozen nations, the mission has taken the task group through the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Indian Ocean, with visits to Singapore, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.
According to the Royal Navy, the deployment aims to reaffirm the UK’s commitment to regional security, demonstrate allied cooperation, and showcase British trade and industry across key partner nations.
Over the course of Operation Highmast, more than 4,500 British personnel are involved, including 2,500 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines, nearly 600 Royal Air Force personnel, and around 900 British Army soldiers.
I think this says it all for everyone who keeps insisting that the UK carriers are out of date white elephants. There are very specificity two strategic naval capabilities that every nation that possibly can strives for. One is SSNs and the other are Carriers and the means to support a carrier battle group.
Why is that ? It’s because almost every other naval asset is essentially defensive in nature and a purely defensive set of capabilities will always lose you the war. Yes you need frigates and destroyers and patrol craft to maintain and defend your key access to shipping lanes, sea ways and maritime resources and to an extent some large modern escort can undertake strategic strike ( the key difference between US escorts and European escorts is that US escorts have a strategic strike capability in tomahawk) and you can use them to try and attack others sealanes and shipping access. But for the strategic capability to go anywhere on the planet and inflict significant damage with very little chance of being prevented nothing comes close to a carrier battle group or fleet of SSNs.
The world’s carrier forces are not dwindling as they go out of fashion, every nation strives tooth and nail to either stay in the carrier game or join it. The key battle grounds of the future will be the pacific, Indian Ocean, southern occeans and high north.. all profoundly isolated from many of the combatants in which the ability to overcome the tyranny of distance will decide winners and losers.. a frigate navy cannot overcome the tyrant that is distance..Supported Carrier battles groups and SSN forces can.
Those detractors, and they surface here periodically, have single, common English names like “Dave” and are I suspect Russian, Chinese, or whatever.
To be against Carriers is, by definition, to be against aviation and air power, and those are not suddenly obsolete.
Yes more and more I’m coming to the conclusion a lot of the brigade that “do down “ the idea of developing strategic capabilities are either useful idiots or professional political warfare trolls of the west’s enemies.
Interestingly more and more it’s coming to light that a future Russian strategy in a war with NATO will be to attack the UK hard as both the key enemy and as a political warfare example and deterrent against Germany, France, Spain and Italy..it looks like it will try to split NATO by hammering the utter crap out of the UK.. to prevent that the UK needs to be laser focused on strategic capabilities to hammer Russia back harder.. so it does not see the UK as the weak link and leaver. Which we become if we keep having a loud voice and throw support to Ukraine while not arming the hell up.
So unless the UK does something significant Russia is going to use the UK as the whipping boy.
For me that is
1)SSNs with a very large arsenal of land attack missiles so they can keep going back and hammering mother Russia time after time ( 1000 of them so we can essentially send an SSN to dump 20 tomahawks on a Russian target every week for a year)
2) 12 squadrons of fast RAF jets. Backed by a significant numbers of air launched cruise missiles ( another 2000 so the RAF can attack Russia twice a week for a year) and refuelling and AEW resources.
3) the 2500km range ground launched cruise or ballistic missile that can attack out to Moscow from the UK ( 1000 of those for a Sunday punch of epic proportions or or the ability to send 20 missiles a week at Russia for a year.
4) a carrier battle group sitting in the northern oceans with 3 squadrons of 5th generation fighter.. to essentially tear apart the Russian bastions and destroy its high north infrastructure.
Finally putting strike missiles on every destroyer and frigate so they can also add to the mix.
The final point is the need to present Russia with a UK based MAD capability..the UK nuclear deterrence needs to go well beyond the ability to destroy Moscow, it needs to be able to kill every Russian city with more than half as million people in it..that’s 30 cites and would ensure the complete and utter destruction of Russia as a present and future nation.. that’s a 100 warhead strike.
If we had all that even in a Russian NATO war Russia would not dare to single out the UK for attack as a way to split NATO. That’s why strategic capabilities like the carrier are vital… fighting a war with NATO is one thing.. being the example for destruction is another.
We currsntly fail every one of those points.
1. We have around 60, give or take, since 2000.
2.12 Sqns is fantasy on our part, HMG have no interest beyond adding a 3rd Sqn of F35 over the next decade, and 3 of those Sqns are also needed for point 4. The GR4 was lost without replacement, some 14 Sqns down to 3 by 2019 before the Tories cut the rest.
Typhoon, you’ve explained many times here a 7 Sqn force, itself a sham to keep fast jet Sqn numbers up after the aforementioned 3 GR4 Sqns went, is unsustainable.
And this government REFUSE to order another batch, preferring to parrot the jobs mantra.
3. I’ll believe it when I see it, just words from HMG and MoD. Where is the money?
4. As point 2, we are 1 short, and the RAF will want use of them elsewhere too. And rightly.
NSM FCASW might yet provide for the escorts,what few we have!
Increase of MAD level means even less money for conventional, which this government’s weasel words continue to undermine as no new money yet exists despite the grandstanding of %.
Pure fantasy fleets for me, even though I’m in full agreement as to the importance of offense over defence. It’s a concern of mine over UK GBAD. more is required, but not at expeditionary or offensive expense.
Fantastic sight to see, let’s hope we can work together a lot closer in the future, It’s a shame we didn’t see ang Cross Decking with Harriers !
Please note that the Indian Carrier at @40,000 Tons has a capacity to embark @36 “Aircraft” which compares to our QE class at @80,000 tons and @70 “Aircraft”.
All figures freely avaliable on the Internet, Wiki and published on this great site. 👌
Yet India are buying russian s400
They buy masses of Russian stuff, they used to buy masses of British stuff, It can happen again even if they are trying hard to produce their own stuff now.
India should be a great Ally either way to my mind.
I think India allies with India.
I’d not trust them at all, they’re happy buying cheap Russian oil.
It’s refreshing how a nation puts itself first, so no complaints from me, but lets be honest here, they’re no allies.
I have met many “Indians” from all parts, they are to a man,(woman or any other possible option) all very friendly and open and i’m lucky to have a few of them as friends. I never hear any bad mouthing from them so I can only go by my personal experiences.
Many of our “Allies” also still buy from Russia so I guess they’re not any different ?
Yes mate, but those “allies” are the likes of Hungary?
Not an area I’m knowledgeable on, but I don’t think the allies that really count, so western ENATO, the Baltics, Nordic countries, Canada, the US, Japan, Australia, Saudi, Oman, and S Korea do?
Most of South America and Africa also went their own way or abstained regards Russia and embargoes on their stuff.
A bit rich if they then come cap in hand to the west, but, they look after their own political interests over what is right.
I was referring to Gas mainly.
I think India is a future issue, not because it will be an enemy but because it will always be completely neutral and the very best thing China could ask for when it goes for first island chain control is a neutral Indian Ocean at its back to give it access to the markets and resources of the Indian Ocean states, Middle East and Africa.
I think the very best we can hope from India is a friendly neutral to us and an unfriendly neutral to China.. at preset I think we are in a place where India will be smack in the middle, China is working hard to make India neutral friendly to the Russia China bloc.
And if you think our F35 purchase is woeful then check out the 22 Rafale purchase for this carrier. France purchased 46 for theirs.
“We” bought our F35’s for both RAF and Navy uses, to replace various other aircraft so yes, It’s still “Woeful” given our numbers.
Correct.
Politicians rely on that fact being lost, forgotten, or never even known by the vast majority of the public.
It’s the decades old trend. Tornado (once given the MRCA Label) was envisaged as a Multi Role Combat Aircraft to take on other Aircraft missions and the numbers actually ordered were a fair bit less than originally deemed required. Typhoon was exactly thec same, so is F35.
Next will be Tempest and it will continue in ever decreasing circles until Zero.
I see only one British escort, or am I mistaken?
Says one so you are right. Japanese and Norwegians covering our rear….
I think the most significant part of the story is that the Japanese destroyer Akebono formed part of the CSG this far from their homeland. I stand to be corrected, of course, if this happens all the time but it seems to be a major shift in Japan’s posture, in our favour, that I like to imagine is down incredible diplomatic efforts by UK officials and, of course, the amazing success of CSG25.
I’m not kidding myself that everything has changed over night but I think this shows that it is possible for Western defence efforts to be robust and not simply plugin elements for a US military core, in the event that that option might be…unavailable.