Two potent task groups proved their strength to defend Arctic waters and shorelines from threats when they came together as part of NATO exercises.
The UK Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales, was joined by a NATO Amphibious Task Group and a range of aircraft off the coast of Norway as part of Exercise Nordic Response.
The formation of more than 10 ships from eight nations gave the men and women on board the chance to practise close manoeuvres – overcoming language barriers and different ways of operating at sea.
In a show of might for NATO and it partners, the exercise allowed the vessels and their aircraft to demonstrate their ability to defend allied territory while simultaneously defending themselves from potential enemies.
“Taking part were: Royal Navy ships HMS Prince of Wales, frigate HMS Portland, Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker Tidespring and amphibious landing ship RFA Mounts Bay; Spanish frigate ESPS Almirante Juan de Borbon; German replenishment ship FGS Bonn; Norwegian frigate HNoMS Otto Sverdrup, corvette HNoMS Gnist, patrol vessels HNoMS Olav Tyrggvason and HNoMS Magnus Lagabote; Norwegian coast guard ship KV Bjornoya; Dutch support ship HNLMS Karel Doorman; Italian aircraft carrier ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi; French frigate FS Normadie; and US destroyer USS Paul Ignatius.”
There was also a fly past by Swedish JSA-39 Gripens and Finnish F-18 Hornets.
Would have been nice to see a few F35Bs from 617 join the Swedish and Finnish cabs in the fly past. Perhaps it was before lunch and a bit early for the Crabs?
This whole Nordic response exercise is very interesting as a shows a really important point which I think is a fundamental success to the RNs decision around building and commissioning two super carriers and all that has done to change the fleet. That point is hammered home to the Russians via this exercise…with an Elizabeth class carrier as its core the Northern European NATO navies can utterly dominate the Northsea, Norwegian Sea, Greenland sea and even into the Barents Sea and with a carrier group of 5 generation fighters there would be little the Russians could respond with…other than react… Read more »
The two RN carriers can only be considered ‘super carriers’ if they were seen to operate a full compliment of airframes (which includes helicopters). As it is, the RN/RAF do not have enough F35Bs for one carrier to be fully operational at any given time. Since being declared fully operational, HMS Queen Elizabeth has had to rely almost everytime on USMC aircraft to supplement her air wing. If Trump gets elected in November this could end. The shortage of helicopters has so far not made headline news, but there is increasing signs that unless action is taken soon, there won’t… Read more »
To be honest 2% GDP is a BS figure the threat evolution since 2010 demanded a graduated increase in defence spending from 2% in 2010 3% in 2014-15to around 4% by 2022…The last time we faced the level of threat we do now the UK was spending a steady 5-6% GDP on defence… re the carriers…just because we don’t yet have the full air wing does not make the carriers themselves any less than a super carrier….it’s not the carrier creating the limit it’s..the UK eventually needs to have 3 squadrons of 35b to allow that 36 jet surge. UK… Read more »
Agree to a point, but the carriers will never be 100% effective if there aren’t enough aircraft for even one to deploy independently of USMC support! Putting to one side the shortage of F35Bs, the RAF hasn’t even enough Typhoons to defend UK airspace AND simultaneously deploy where ever NATO might need them. The UK now has only three frontline air stations; is at least one P8 short of what’s actually required for that minuscule fleet to be fully effective; and, like other services, has a retention problem. Put simply, the UK is in a defence mess through years of… Read more »
To be honest Micheal I think the big issue is money..asking the mod and forces to deliver what they deliver on a less than 2% GDP budge was always to much..12 front line fast jet squadrons was really always the minimum peacetime number needed in the same way as the escort force min should have been 24-29 and we should have 3 armoured regiments with everything needed for a well equipped deployable armoured division, as as a deployable well equipped airmobile brigade and amphibious brigade etc etc…but you cannot have all that and a credible nuclear deterrent on 2% of… Read more »
There is a rather nice photo essay on Navy Lookout covering Steadfast Defender, which complements the coverage on UKDJ.
Those were indeed some excellent pics on Navy Lookout.
Ten ships from eight NATO nations is not exactly a demonstration of unified strength! It’s highly likely that this exercise made no impact whatsoever on Putin’s increasing aggression towards the so-called West.