A Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron has conducted live weapons training off the coast of India while embarked on HMS Prince of Wales.
The drills form part of Operation HIGHMAST, the UK’s flagship naval deployment for 2025.
The Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month mission through the Mediterranean, Middle East and into the Pacific. The deployment includes forces from a dozen nations and aims to reinforce British defence ties and showcase UK industry in key strategic regions. Operation HIGHMAST involves more than 4,500 British personnel including 2,500 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines, nearly 600 RAF personnel and 900 soldiers.
This mission, known as Operation HIGHMAST, is the second deployment of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group, the first led by HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021, and is commanded by Commodore James Blackmore. The deployment began with around 2,500 military personnel – including approximately 2,100 from the UK, 200 from Norway, and similar contingents from Canada and Spain. As the task group progresses into the Indo-Pacific, its numbers will rise to more than 4,500 for major joint exercises with allies.
The strike group includes, but is not limited to, the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Richmond, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker RFA Tidespring, and allied ships including the Norwegian frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen, the tanker HNoMS Maud, and the Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec. Between June and December, the force will conduct a series of integrated exercises and operations with air, sea and land elements from a dozen allied nations across the Mediterranean, Middle East, South-east Asia, Japan and Australia.
The AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat HMA2 is a maritime helicopter operated by the Royal Navy, primarily tasked with anti-surface warfare, force protection, and reconnaissance. It is equipped with a range of mission systems including radar, electro-optical sensors, and the ability to carry Martlet and Sea Venom missiles, door-mounted machine guns, and lightweight torpedoes depending on the operational requirement.
Wildcats deployed on Royal Navy warships operate in a variety of environments and support both standalone tasks and complex strike group operations. When embarked, they act as an extension of the ship’s sensors and weapons systems, offering commanders enhanced situational awareness and the ability to strike targets at range.
Image by LPhot Bill Spurr.
It is surprising there has been no article about the lonely F35B, still sitting on the tarmac in India AFAIK from a day or so ago.
A gift, surely, if certain people can take a closer look at it?
It is all very odd TBH.
Last I read it was going to be repaired in India( a couple of days ago), I’m not sure that there is much else to say until it is actually fixed is there?
Hi RS.
I think there is plenty to say on a security standpoint, and why it is taking so long, considering what this asset is.
It has classified tech, this is not any old asset.
It is in a nation that is no ally to the UK, that is friendly to Russia. If India is seen as an ally, it is as it suits India.
When our F35B was lost in the med, we had the wacky races and media concern Russian or Chinese recovery teams could reach it before UK USA equivalents. In a far harder to reach location at the bottom of the sea compared to sitting on an airfield in a foreign non NATO country.
No urgency. No C17 arriving to take it away.
Well over a week.
That is why I am concerned and bring the subject up.
The lack of haste baffles me.
This has been discussed on a few differnt comments sections for a while now, I’m sure It’s all being taken care of by those in charge, just like the Barrow Fire, some things are hushed up from “Us Amature Experts”. I’m sure we will be able to access the official report in 50 years time !
“Don’t panic,don’t panic”.
maybe waiting for a takeaway order from QE. to deliver.
May have to blow it up
And this is a thin story. We go half way round the world to do machine gun…..
Come on RN PR you can do much better than this.
Agree.
Where is the documentary showing a deck full (ish) of aircraft?
Where is the publicity?
I get it was more muted when transiting through the M East, but what a recruitment advert.
maybe waiting for a takeaway order from QE. to deliver.seeing whether the gun nrs remember how to use a gun isn’t really newsworthy George.about as interesting as the recruitment adverts.
To be fair to the Royal Navy, it’s not like they announced on the News at Ten:
“Sailor opens fire on shark with machine gun.”
That said, I do agree the RN could be doing a lot more when it comes to ‘communicating’ around CSG25.
They’d be better off handing their PR ‘machine’ over to the Royals, they’ve done a far better job over the years.
“Wot no” “killer Chapati” ?