The Ministry of Defence has outlined the British military presence in the Indo-Pacific, pointing out that it has grown in recent years.
Andrew Rosindell, Member of Parliament for Romford, asked:
“To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 67 of the Integrated Review 2021 and the escalation of tensions on the Taiwan border, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the UK’s military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.”
James Heappey Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, responded:
“The Integrated Review recognises that the Indo-Pacific region is at the centre of intensifying geopolitical competition with multiple potential flashpoints. The recent actions and remarks made by China on Taiwan are concerning. We will continue to encourage open communication and de-escalation.
The Ministry of Defence regularly reviews UK global defence posture and capabilities to take account of emerging threats and crises. We have not made an assessment as to the adequacy of the UK’s military presence in the Indo-Pacific region. However, we are strengthening defence and security cooperation, increasing our engagement with regional security groupings and exercising with the US, Australia and regional partners, including through the Five Powers Defence Arrangements (FPDA) members.
Our maritime presence in the region has grown, with the deployment of two Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) as part of our persistent presence approach. The joint UK and US defence facility on the British Indian Ocean Territory plays a vital role in our efforts to keep the region secure and we retain a permanent presence in Brunei, through the Resident Infantry Battalion.”
Recently, Offshore patrol ship HMS Spey joined navies, coast guards and police in the southwest Pacific on a concerted effort to protect local fishing stocks, say the Royal Navy.
“Over ten days Spey took part in Operation Island Chief, one of four concerted efforts every year focusing on detecting, reporting, apprehending and deterring illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Illegal fishing is estimated to cost the Pacific Island nations more than US $150m (£127m) every year in lost revenue.
Seventeen nations have joined forces to monitor activities across a vast area of the Pacific – more than 18.4 million square kilometers of ocean, 30 times larger than the North Sea and rich with tuna – covering waters in the economic exclusion zones of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu amongst others.
It’s the first time the Royal Navy has taken part in the operation, one of many varied missions as part of the broader five-year Pacific mission by sister patrol ships HMS Spey and Tamar.”
You can read more on this here.
Pacific is the largest ocean where we send one or two of our smallest ships 😀
True but it’s also on the other side of the world from us and we have virtually nothing there to look after. Even at the height of empire we had very little in the pacific.
British Columbia ,New Zealand and Australia. to name but a few
It was a struggle in the 1940’s let alone now.
HM Dockyard Esquimalt..
You mean besides the Archers, Hunts, and Sandowns?
And ignoring the Carrier Strike Group that was there for like a year?
No.
Nobody cares about you being wrong Esteban.
It was a cheeky ironic comment, I know we can deploy to the pacific and there’s probably a couple of subs there now.
Always hard to tell how tongue and cheek comments are online XD
We need a bigger navy! Are the government listening?
No they are too busy subbing their mates at the utility companies. Your not going to get tax cuts, jobs for the boys and an increase in defence spending despite what the cheese lady says.
She did say that the RN needs to be double the size, so 2 CVs, 4 LHDs, 12 DDGs, 26 FFGs and 14 SSNs anyone. I will take that all day long
Wasn’t aware of her saying this. I did see an article discussing how more people in power are starting to understand the importance of subs and are wondering whether sub sea is one of the places of main strategic importance in the future. That said, our ssn build rate is constrained for rather a while (good infographic on navy lookout) so unless we buy or build another manufacturing space we won’t have more crewed send for a while.
Nice aspiration but even incremental increases now would be a bit of a squeeze. But if there’s a real need let’s hope things will happen!
Which mates are these exactly? How are they subbing them?
The forward deployment of the batch 2 rivers is going great. I really hope in future we can send something with more capability along the lines of the Black Swan sloop of war concept that is better suited to disaster relief as well as other missions like MCM and secondary ASW. This way we can have better defence engagement and more varied training with allies.
Some of the training with the B2 rivers has seemed very basic and almost pointless.
One way to rapidly add hull numbers would be to take the river batch 2 hull and change it into a full fat corvette. Black swan sloop of war is fine- but lets go all in with a 2000-3000 ton light frigate/ heavy corvette armed with a 56mm or 76mm or maybe even handed down 114mm mk8 guns from the type 23s as a main gun, a couple of bofors 40mms, some NSMs, Sea ceptor VLS, and a helo with UAVs/ USVs available via PODS- that type of vessel would be very handy for a showdown with any Chinese or… Read more »
Would a full-fat corvette be that much cheaper than a Type 31, which can certainly be tailored for GP, surface strike, ASW or AAW? Look at the spec you wrote: main gun, perhaps 56mm, two 40mm, some NSMs, Sea Ceptor VLS, helicopter. Space for UAVs, built in 5 ship batches. Remind you of anything?
When BAE subitted, somewhat reluctantly via Cammell Laird, for the Type 31 project, they also included a concept for a smaller vessel, a kind of River B3, called the Avenger and, based on the Khareef-class corvettes built for Oman. Those came in at 2600t and 100m and were – in comparison with other Rivers – armed to the teeth: 76mm main gun, 2 x 30mm cannons, 12 cells for Mica AA, 8 for Exocet. Plus enclosed hangar for a medium helo. I sometimes think the RN has not distinguished between OPV as Oceangoing and OPV as Offshore, passing off the… Read more »
Why do you think the Rivers are ill suited to the jobs they are assigned too? They’re fully Ocean going vessels, with a range that enables them to cross the atlantic and go back, and a at sea endurance of over a month without resupply. They’re also really cheap to operate with a small crew and have a REALLY impressive number of sea days per year compared to any other RN vessel.
I think Shelley was referring to their inability to fight. They have no offensive or defensive ability. If things were to go hot in SCS, ECS or Taiwan, they have near zero military value, yet are of a size to become an automatic target.
If things were to go hot in the SCS then any single RN ship will have the same outcome.
No, they would all head for the nearest allied naval force & try to be be useful. Problem is a B2 is militarily non useful & cannot be easily made useful. It can’t even escort a civilian high value target (such as a freighter or tanker), let alone a military AOR, tanker etc. In fact, it would likely need its own escort in order to get out of the way
A bit over dramatic there mate. It’s no more in need of an escort that the large number of other OPV’s that are out there in the region.
If a T-31 can survive for long enough to reach an allied task force when the war goes hot then a B2 can as well, the force balance is simply that one sided. The only difference is a T-31 would stick around while a B2 would probably go to another theater to free up assets from there.
Most OPV in the area are better armed. Most would head back closer to their home ports & hope their country stays out of it. If a T31 is attacked, it can at least defend. A B2 currently can’t. The headline will still read “British Warship Sunk in the Pacific”. If a B2 can reach an allied naval force, it then has the problem of leaving that force to go elsewhere without attracting unwanted attention. You either make a one ship dash & hope for the best, or wait til something more important needs an escort.
And building it smaller won’t be cheaper. Remember that the three final offers for T-31 where the Arrowhead (won, 5,700t), Leander (Lost, 2,600-3,700t) and Meko (Lost, 3,700t). None of them was going to come in at any less that 250mil per ship.
Dern, hi, Batch II costed about £120 million each, a Khareef class with 76mm 2x30mm 12x vl mica and mm-40s plus a helicopter hanger.
Not sure what you’re getting at Ron.
Yep we do have the most expensive OPVs on the planet.
I don’t see an heavily armed corvette being that useful or cheap compared to a T31. I would like to see something procured in large numbers and more like an armed offshore supply vessel able to carry large number of containers and modules and operate drones.
It wouldn’t be, the main cost drivers are sensors, weaponry, decoys etc. Whether you put them on a short ranged small cramped hull, or a big ocean going hull is, in comparison, a relatively small expense.
In fact it’s generally been found that a generously large hull means it’s easier to do upgrades, maintenance, and retrofits later in a ships life, while trying to do the same on a small hull costs £££. (Part of the reason Arrowhead was picked for T31 over BAe/CL’s Leander offering).
Totally agree, space means there far less need for bepsoke components to fit cramped space, if you need to replace part you don’t need to go back to the OEM because that’s the only part that fits the space. Look at the space Iver Huitfeldt-Class engine room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMNoHCV9Vnc&ab_channel=Defense%26AerospaceReport
And then remember that’s the same engine room in the Inspiration Class ^_^
Although to me it all seems very cramped, prefer a basha under the stars myself.
China is going to very quickly realise that the solution to its energy problem is the break up of Russian and the subsequent conquest of eastern Siberia. The way the kremlins chief donkey is going that won’t take long.
The Chinese are just waiting for the Orcs to finish the pipeline at their own expense before walking in.
Kremlins chief donkey….😂😂😂
What a description, “chief donkey”! That made me laugh my head off too. Thanks for that! Already Friday here in 🇦🇺… And I’m still laughing…
Morning Quentin – do see my reply to AB regarding the donkey reference. I’m off to the Barrier Reef next week for some Aussie R&R – happy days!
Morning Klonkie, maybe Chief ass” (or arse) would be more fitting. Still made me lol! Good to wake up to that.
Yes, totally, good to see Putins forces getting clobbered and humiliated. As you say, what murderous bastards. Hope Ukraine gets all its territories back soonest and re-establish itself, navy, infrastructure, especially in Crimea and the Mariopul area. Then 🇺🇦 can call the shots, pardon the pun.
Enjoy the Great Barrier Reef. I haven’t been there myself but it looks stunning.
Thanks Quentin – just saw BBC news and the graves of those innocent murdered civilians and pows- absolute tragedy and disgrace
Morning from Sydney, yes a pretty awful find. I don’t know how they can feel proud of themselves with this kind of behaviour. Pity the four Russian Kilo subs have moved out of Sevastopol, it would have been spectacular if Ukraine had somehow damaged them all while in dock there. Maybe they’re planning a future drone attack. Don’t need to sink them, just damage their conning towers. Strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦 and its people and President and all the many countries supporting her.
Morning AB. I cant quite accept the comparison between donkey’s and Putin et al. A donkey is useful and has some value. As for the wannabe soviet murderer – well enough said.
Encouraging to see them getting the the thumping they deserve from the Ukrainians. I’m impressed by Zelenksy’s leadership.
I’m sure JohnskyinMK will be along soon to tell you otherwise and in a roudabout way imply how offended he his.
good one Tams!
7 hours later and it’s still making me laugh… Lol 😁 Maybe it’s that talking donkey in Shrek, I think it was Eddie Murphy doing the voice.
Happy Friday everyone! God bless the Queen 👑 and God save the new King. 👑 I heard somewhere that half the 🌏 will be watching the funeral on Monday. That’s some global following! 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 🇬🇧
Nice analogy Quentin, Farewell and thank you to our beloved Queen. God save the King!
Morning Airborne, Kremlin of Gremlin, he does seem to throw lots of spanners in the works.
Is anyone else worried about the proposed type 32 frigate- it essentially is proposed to do the following tasks. patrol , support for littoral combat groups, provide mothership role for UAV/USV and mine clearance. Supposedly enabling the entirety of the mine hunting and mine clearance fleet to be retired.
hmmm- all in 5 hull forms- seems like another substantial cut is coming.
We definitely need to utilise the river batch 2 hull form and bring into service a host of multi purpose corvettes
I am worried if T32 is the entire fleet. However if we supplement it with a offshore supply vessel able to carry large numbers of containers and operate drones and other equipment the I think we are good.
It’ll probably be mostly operated off of RFA’s for starters. The T-32 concept doesn’t even really have a mission set yet, let alone budget, actual design concepts or anything like that, so anything at this point is massive sepculation (and it was Boris’s pet project, so who knows, it might quietly die now, like Black Swan, NFS and LSS)
Yes Mr Bell, I don’t know if youve seen the BAE T32 Adaptable Frigate cgis shown on Naval News, Janes and YouTube around the end of Aug? Their proposal looks like a stretched hybrid River B2-Leander-cargo ship concept. Looks very light on in terms of armament, lots of containers though, packed with useful stuff no doubt and a biggish crane. The forward area design shows the 57mm mount with flushed side silos immediately to its sides which would surely restrict the firings of both. Looks like it has three silos, one which might even be the infamous 12 CAMM. Hope… Read more »
SH Defence “Cube” System Aboard BAE Systems’ Adaptable Strike Frigate.
Not sure if this will work. I’m trying to copybthe Naval News 29Aug article over TK here. It’s tricky on my phone. Maybe you’ve seen it already.
See on http://www.navalnews.com/
I suspect the reverse. The fragile alliance between Russia and China meant that they had a strong counter balance to western economies especially from a polcitics influence perspective in Africa/south America/middle East. China alone is a lot less influencial. Would guess China is annoyed with Russia
Good Lord is this article serious? Yes I’m sure the UK is a major force in the Indian and Pacific oceans.. Good Lord just stop.
It is psychological. A “presence”. Arguably it can foster goodwill with some, and is a reminder that we do trade with Pacrim nations. As a useful military contribution to anything? I doubt it is taken seriously. It basically is a cheaper option than any major surface combatant, of which there are very few anyway.
John, some good points there. It is not, as far as I am aware, meant to be a useful military contribution in the sense that sending a full-fat warship would be. It is likely taken seriously by those who would not want to see a U.K naval presence in these regions. They will, no doubt float around for years doing all the work and more that a frigate would do in peacetime at a fraction of the cost. As for well armed, that crane is a decent weapon for this sort of ship. The photo of it self-unloading supplies at… Read more »
China seems far more likely to turn on the West than turn towards the West! They’re trying to undermine freedom & democracy hrere just as they are worldwide. Way past time we woke up to it & push back hard.
The usual wave of negativity wanting OPVs armed to the teeth. 🙄
Sometimes you have to patiently educate.
Sometimes you just have to shake your head.
Yup, everytime the OPV’s get a mention its the same. They’re doing a great job showing the flag and helping people in times of need. I bet the crews love it an dnot just for the sun either. I heard many ex-service people saying that the times they felt at their best was when they were able to help people who needed it. It makes a different, it makes friends and influences poeple and nations. There is agreat article on The Thin Pinstriped Line making this very point. The best way to counter China’s Belt and Roads con-trick is not… Read more »
Except they cost too much to build & lack the options they could easily have had. They lack 4 things. A 40mm gun (which gives a degree of AA & some littoral surface ability), a NS50 radar or similar, a small quantity of SAM’s (eg Mica or CAMM), containerised would be fine & a hangar with air weapons magazine. Neither the containerised missiles or helicopter need to be carried, but they need to be known to exist & can be airfreighted in via C17 within days. Compare the French equivalent based in the Pacific. A helicopter in a disaster is… Read more »
So what would you please cut for your wish list of things to put on an OPV? Also what frigates would you free up to take over from the OPV’s since with all of that they won’t have the at sea days they currently have? None of this, espeically the hangar, would be “easy” to fit. The point of the OPV’s are that they cost little to operate, and free up the warfighting surface fleet. Your scheme would easily mean cutting at least one (probably more) T-31’s to make a half arsed corvette that the RN doesn’t really want. Re… Read more »
Dern There are smaller OPV’s out there that have hangars. They are not that hard to fit if you planned for it & built it in at the start. Otherwise build someone else’s design. Off the top of my head, there is at least 2 German designs & 1 Dutch design in the 80-90m range with hangars. Hangars are useful things, with & without a helicopter. The B2 is designed to go to 76mm if required. A 40mm though would be a good compromise for the least outlay. I was not suggesting a massively armed OPV, but that options could… Read more »
for those interested bit of read though. Report Title is ‘We’re Going to need and bigger Navy’
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmdfence/168/report.html
46. The Navy cannot fulfil the full ambition of the Integrated Review with its current fleet. It needs more lower-end, adaptable vessels, like the planned Type 31 frigate, to fulfil the presence operations planned. A large part of the Government’s plan to address this relies on increasing availability, as well as through the Type 32 programme. We are not convinced that increased availability can produce enough vessels to be relied upon in an emergency. If the Navy intends to deliver all missions, especially the presence the IR specifies, growth of major surface combatants needs to double, with growth from small, adaptable vessels.… Read more »
Wow – I would say if anyone is to blame for propping up the Russian economy and increasing their status and influence geo politically ever since the Cold War ended, than it is the West itself. We have openly encouraged bilateral trade and investment with Russia, while also creating the dangerous reliance on Russian energy imports which Putin has now exposed, however foolhardy and shortsighted a policy that may be for Russia itself. China meanwhile simply sits on the sidelines and makes the most of the fallout, without overtly participating. China’s actions neatly reflect their overall foreign policy, which is… Read more »
Is this a leadup to a Pacific squadron?