The Royal Navy and Italian Navy have combined their carrier strike groups for a significant joint exercise in the Mediterranean, as part of the Royal Navy’s flagship global mission.
The exercise, known as Med Strike, is seen as the high point of the UK’s Operation Highmast deployment.
The collaboration brought together the UK Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales, and the Italian Carrier Strike Group, centred on ITS Cavour. The combined force, consisting of 21 warships, three submarines, 41 fast jets, 19 helicopters, 10 patrol aircraft, and around 8,000 personnel, operated in the Ionian Sea between Taranto and Sicily.
The exercise included F-35B Lightning jets from both nations conducting flying operations day and night. Essential training elements included anti-submarine warfare tactics, air defence drills, and drone threat responses. Lieutenant Commander Joe Mason, Second in Command of 617 Squadron, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration: “I am thrilled to work alongside my Italian colleagues and see how they control, launch and recover F-35s from the tower. We are stronger together, and combined training makes us more effective and more lethal for the future.”
Commander Nick Smith, Commanding Officer of 809 Naval Air Squadron, highlighted the importance of joint training: “Ex Med Strike affords the opportunities to prove force integration both within the air and maritime domains, learn from one another’s approaches to carrier aviation, and demonstrate Carrier Strike capability within NATO.”
During the exercise, the UK’s Type 45 destroyer also carried out a replenishment at sea with the Norwegian tanker HNoMS Maud, transferring 300,000 litres of diesel. Additionally, HMS Richmond conducted gunnery training, while Commando Merlin helicopters from 845 Naval Air Squadron transported the British Ambassador to Italy, Edward Llewellyn, to HMS Prince of Wales.
Captain Colin McGannity, Commander Air Group, stressed the significance of such multinational cooperation: “Working together with allies is critical to what we do. We are stronger together, so we work hard to make our combined operations seamless.”
Operation Highmast, the Royal Navy’s key deployment of 2025, will see the Carrier Strike Group journey from the Mediterranean through the Middle East to the Western Pacific Rim. The mission aims to reaffirm the UK’s commitment to security in both the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific regions while showcasing British military capabilities and fostering international cooperation.
If this is the high point, does that mean we have the extra F35s on board?
No
Sort of, if you include the Italians landing a few of their F35Bs on the Prince of Wales. Not seen a Harrier on board yet!
Those old videos of Harriers flying backwards and nodding to the crowd still get me.
Think it was Mildenhall Air Fete 1992, several Sea Harriers lined up facing the crowd and did just that. Awesome.
One of my abiding Harrier memories was the Russian Bear doing it’s thing at Faiford back in the 90’s, getting its timing wrong and heading back down the runway, with a Spanish AV8A Matador flying underneath it, going in the opposite direction!
That and spectacular low level GR3/ GR7 flying in Cumbria and Snowdonia back in the day.
Many years ago when I was just a skinny kid I walked the 7m coast path from Looe in Cornwall to Polperro with my family. Scorching ahead I stood on a headland outcrop as a Harrier jet flew by. It stopped, hovered, turned towards me and bowed… the pilot waved at me, I waved back. He turned the plane to its original heading and hit the gas. To this day, other than a head to head race with a Italian Typhoon take off in Italy in 2012 on my ZX14 (I lost badly) that day was the greatest thing ever and something which has stuck in my mind for over 30 years. Love those planes…sooooo cool.
Great memory!
“Fill her up please, 300 Tons of Diesel”
Kerching.
Leaving the two carriers out front to absorb any incoming torpedoes huh 🙂
Nobody is going to get close enough to launch a torpedo with the SSN on station .
Beautiful sight
Please do not do use the word massive to describe anything about the RN even with European allies. Massive means hundreds of real warships
Similarly please do not call patrol.boats or MCM vessels ships
One of the side effects of a shrunken navy is that the MOD and navy bulk up their tiny numbers by using.big words to describe little things
Like including Air Cadet Gliders in the RAF Fixed Wing count!
Graham, even US CSGs don’t have ‘hundreds of real warships’!
21 ships assembled in one place is quite massive. It is certainly very rare.
Hi
Graham
The main message is that most of the vessals are boats not ships.
The RN and MOD are now calling every tug, minesweeper patrol.boat and harbour supply vessel a ship or even warship to.bulk up their numbers.. 20 years ago only frigates and above Were mentioned.
Next they will be including inflatable life rafts.
It is not the journals fault that they use the MOD propaganda, but I wish they looked at the big picture!
But the US has far more than 21 boats.
Its not the first or second world war, the days of seeing hundreds of actual warships together is highly unlikely ever to be seen again even in a hot war between USA and China.
Imagine if the US did amass such an armada it would be the absolute perfect target for a nuclear weapon to wipe out the threat in one go, too much risk.
Agreed but the word massive is pure hyperbolr!
I suspect that there is a quiet wish to avoid cross decking with Harriers because it shows up the political decision to axe the Harriers in the 2010 SDSR. We all know that these could have carried on until the arrival of the F-35 and run in parallel with them. Just as the Italians and USMC for example have done.
Now, now, no dissent in the ranks, you know the grown ups have known what they doing all along and there’s no need to worry. Now, carry on.
Unlikely. The 2010 decision was the Conservatives, and Labour would have nothing against showing up their opositions tenure. More likely it’s to do with the time and effort needed for certification of Harrier on the QEs.
They could have soldiered on to F35. But it would have been at the cost of Tornado. Harries wasn’t retired because it was old. It was retired as the RAF where told they could only operate two fast jet types.
The RAF never liked the Harrier or close air support they always preferred air to air and interdiction
The army who received CAS and the RN loved it.
The RN made a big mistake relying on RAF harriers when the RN harriers retired first. We all knew the RAF would kill it.
Yes as Air to Air and Interdiction/Strike is their bread and butter and is vastly more important then CAS. Again the RN didn’t make the mistake it was forced upon them, in the same way retiring Harrier was forced on the RAF. Had money not been an issue the RAF would have happily carried on with Harrier but it wasn’t. They where forced to choose between Harrier and Tornado and ultimately Tornado is the better aircraft.
Don’t forget the Navy was also forced to give up its carriers anyway, so there would have been no point keeping Harrier.
I deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and ran the weapons analysis after the first gulf war.
I can tell you that CAS was used daily and saved thousands of lives.
Far more weapons were dropped on CAS missions in every war than deep strike or BAI except Kosovo. This included the first gulf, despite the videos of deep strike missions.
Before Ukraine there had not been any significant air to air missile engagements since the Falklands.
I have wondered for quite awhile what would happen if the houths(Yemen guys) run rabid and start shooting at HMS Prince of Wales led strike group as the bypass them or let us hope the houths will have a sense of self-awareness!
You don’t have long range weapons in F35, neither SEAD only LGB’s that put it at range of long range Houthi/Iran SAM’s.
Only tomahawks in the SSN’s
Graham, even US CSGs don’t have ‘hundreds of real warships’!
21 ships assembled in one place is quite massive. It is certainly very rare.