Labour MP Graeme Downie has highlighted the importance of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in protecting critical undersea infrastructure in the High North and Arctic during a Westminster Hall debate on NATO and the region.
Speaking during the debate on Government policy on NATO and the High Arctic, Downie referred to discussions with Estonian military officials and British troops stationed in the country, emphasising the strategic importance of cooperation between allied nations operating in the region.
Downie said he had recently visited Estonia as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Estonia, where he discussed Arctic security with local military personnel and UK forces deployed there. “I was in Estonia at the start of January, in my role as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Estonia,” he said. “I met members of its military, as well as the British troops in Estonia, to talk about the importance of the High North and Arctic.”
He asked whether partnerships such as the Joint Expeditionary Force could play a greater role in safeguarding critical infrastructure in the region, particularly undersea cables. “Does he agree that partnerships such as the joint expeditionary force and other work being done in the area are vital to the protection of the undersea cables that he correctly highlighted?” Downie said. “It is important that we look for those effective models to defend the High North and the Arctic.”
Opening the debate, Labour MP Alex Ballinger had warned that the Arctic is becoming increasingly contested, particularly as climate change opens new shipping routes and access to natural resources. Ballinger argued that the region is strategically vital for NATO and the UK, pointing to the role of seabed infrastructure such as fibre-optic cables, power links and gas pipelines. “Undersea competition is now a frontline issue,” Ballinger said. “Our economy relies on seabed infrastructure for fibre-optic communications, power cables and gas pipelines.” Responding to Downie’s intervention, Ballinger agreed that the Joint Expeditionary Force is a key element of allied cooperation in the High North. “I absolutely agree that the JEF is a vital alliance for our operations in the High North,” he said.
The Joint Expeditionary Force is a UK-led multinational framework that brings together northern European NATO partners to improve rapid military cooperation and response across the Baltic and Arctic regions.
Protecting it from what? try protecting an RAF base if you can scrap one workiong ship up and find a crew for it. Labour MP’s showing off how our navy protects sea and snow but not real people, i’d hardly be proud of that. Bunch of clowns making the nation look bad, again.
Did the present government essentially destroy the navy ? Or was it every government since 2006/7….
It was a case of national Hara- kiri, Jonathan. Some sort of delusional illness; a combination of post Imperial guilt and hubris perhaps. Best left to the historians to mull over. We have to deal with today. To quote Lady Macbeth, ‘what’s done is done, and cannot be undone’. We have to rebuild from scratch, which is what we are doing with T26, T31, the Tides and FSS. We need to get 2 or 3 new frigates in trials and crewed this year and complete the T45 enhancement and refurbs. I read your bottom up policy requirements shopping list – 36 major combatants and 15 minor wasn’t it? Good luck with that. I would anticipate an order for 3 Kongsbergs as replacements for the B1 Rivers, but the big ticket item is MRSS. Will that be Babcock Absalons or Navantia Ellidas or Gucci 12-15k ton hybrid frigate / LPDs? How many and what happens in the short term? I wonder how much of that decision depends on whether Babcock can get export orders for T31 to follow on the 5 RN Inspiration class.
no they did not to be fair, what has Labour ordered for the navy since being in power to help fix things?
Not a one.. they are all as bad.. but we can only hope the fact we have hit rock bottom and essentially been humiliated will bring a change.. I fear not. Effectively the government needs to order another 10 frigates for the 2030s to repair the damage… they need to but I doubt they will.. the starving man will continue to starve because he thinks food is to expensive….
i fear nothing will really change there is not the will the leadership to do it, both things that have been lacking for a long time. There is money do fix a lot of things not all i agree but no one wants spend it it like the MOD for ever window shop right shopping lists but never go in store to buy.
As I said on another thread, in the last 20 months we have essentially lost 11 vessels and not gained a single one. Agamemnon is in trials, but nothing has come operational. I don’t think they destroyed the Navy but they put a DNR notice on the chart.
Agamemnon is still alongside in Barrow, hopefully near the end of hercPRTs (power range testing). If successful she will be departing for Faslane in the not too distant future. She has a full schedule of trials/work up packages to complete before becoming operational.
Unless the MOD/RN decide to cut some of this, she won’t be available until 1st quarter 2027.
It may be possible to get either Audacious and/or Artful back into service before then, if they can get the defect/stores issues sorted and rectified. Time will not doubt tell.
O/T but in other ‘expeditionary’ news Lammy is hinting that the UK could bomb Iranian missile sites – defensively of course – I’m sure they could hit Akrotori 😉
Healey making congruent noises about ‘co-ordinating with our allies’. Time to pour some balm on the wounds of the US-UK relationship. I suspect those additional 4 Typhoons in Qatar could be busy with Paveway soon.
I do have to ask myself, what’s the UKs credibility like as a deterrent to Russia ?
Probably now at its lowest level ever, we have pretty much evidenced we don’t have the ability to react quickly..
Large navies are good navy’s it’s a simple truth…
The UK needs to do some major rethinking very very quickly.. it’s also going to have to spend a lot of money and think outside the box and I’m not taking about pretending drones are a replacement for crewed ships when it comes to the high seas and sea control..
The UK pretty much needs to come out and order more frigates… now..
It needs a credible upgrade of the T31
It needs to turn the rivers2 into a light patrol frigate because OPVs give no credibility for anything beyond your EEZ monitoring… and in a year or so we may have 8 patrol ships and 4 frigates.. an insane balance. The rivers 2 have warship level survivability but no offensive or defensive armaments worth a spit.. time to start thinking what can be done in a year or two…
The rivers 1s can plod doing EEZ OPV work.. then we can build some of the cheap Norwegian commercial standard patrol and mine warfare vessels..
We should order three Jan Mayen ice-hardened OPVs from Vard, just the same as Norway did.
Aren’t the B1 Rivers due to leave service in 2028? If so it’s difficult to see them being replaced by anything other than 3x Batch 2 which in turn would be replaced by T31. As regards upgrades, it is not unreasonable that Venturer and Active be given NSM which would make them a credible patrol frigate. T31s 3, 4 and 5 should have strike length Mk41 from the outset. I think the shipbuilding pattern has been set by T26 i.e. build for the RN, sacrifice slots for export and then replace. I anticipate there will still be 8 T26 flying the white Ensign. Govt and Babcock are trying to establish a similar pattern for T31. A Danish export order would fit into this pattern. The Danish order aside, I think it’s likely that Babcock will get an order for 3 more Arrowhead ships for the RN; possibly designated ‘adaptable T32’ while MRSS might be kicked down the road – not sure we can afford what we would like. Prefer more T31 versus B2 River upgrade every time, but agree better defensive armament would be good. We do need the 3 Kongsberg or whatever coastal UUV cable protection ships. As regards deterring Russia, we need to defend GB against drones and cruise missiles, acquire credible volumes of jets, conventional cruise and hypersonic missiles, one way drones, and ballistic missiles plus demonstrate a credibility to stand by Poland, the Baltics and Germany on the ground in Eastern Europe. My impression is that this is also HMG thinking.
The B1 don’t need to go in 2028 they are in no way knackered.. they are 22 year old littoral vessels.. there is no reason they couldn’t go on into their 2030s.. I believe when asked the lame MOD answer was essentially it was not preferred to keep them running into the 2030s AKA we are going to cut them…
So we have plenty of time to get 3 a nice cheap replacement OPV.. for EEZ patrol work.. personally I would buy 5 ( 3 for local, 1. For Falklands and south Atlantic EEZ and 1 for western Atlantic EEZ ) build to civilian standards.. Norway would build us some nice ones very quickly and cheap in a couple of years…
Now the rivers 2s are decent sized naval standard hulls.. in normal times I would say double double down on their patrol function.. but we are not in normal times the UK is heading for 4-5 frigates for a period of about 5 years..not getting to 13 frigates for about a decade.. just as we are hitting the most geostrategically deadly time we have know in 80 years.. I lived through 2 decades of the Cold War and this is well beyond that time.. and in 1970 we had 81 frigates and destroyers… 66 frigates.. we are heading for 5 at a time everyone pretty much agrees is essentially 1936 all over again..
We have 5 hulls we can turn into reasonable patrol frigates… the truth is if the world is heading for another conflagration we don’t need 5 2000 ton meaningless targets targets with 30 cannons.. but we could use 5 patrol frigates with 57mm and 40mm cannons as well as 24-36 CAMM and maybe some NSM… that Russia will add to its equation.. 5 30mm cannons it will not.
You’re smoking something if you think you can fit all that on a river.
Well the Germans fit a fair bit more on a smaller corvette… maybe they are just better shipbuilders …
They fit 2 RAM turrets and a handful of Ashm onboard, we don’t have RAM, you want to install VLS, SOMEWHERE
He’s had a nice jolly to Estonia no doubt out of the MoD budget to add absolutely zero to our capability or posture. The MoD needs a focus on zero waste to cut swathes of cost that don’t impact fighting effectiveness.
May-be if the politicians stop giving them selves over the top pay rises and stop giving people who are not supposed to be here in the first place a shed load of money just to leave and foreign aid to countries who have bigger armed forces than the UK we might have a few quid to help put-right the 30 odd years of slash and burn to our armed forces. As at the moment we have diddly squat to put towards new equipment and personnel despite all the grandstanding the government like’s to do ref the UK’s armed forces. We are the standing joke of Europe right about now as the Greek Navy is off the shores of Cyprus along with the French Navy defending a UK sovereign air base. With no Amphibious shipping (Bulwark is joining Ocean in Brazil) we are struggling to evacuate the 1000’s of British Ex-Pats from the Middle East.
The political classes from all sides of the house seem to be brain dead when it comes to the Defence of the UK and its overseas assets, and yet are quick to “reassure” other countries that we will be standing beside them.
“With what”
UK contribution to JEF and NATO makes sense. Historically the Balkans are our backyard and we can make a relevant contribution to this region with current forces. Mainland Europe is occupied by countries with larger armies.