The United Kingdom says the strike group of aircraft carriers is ready to deploy. China is already looking

by

The Royal Navy announced on Monday that the Carrier Strike Group in the UK, centered on the largest warship in the UK, HMS Queen Elizabeth, had reached its initial operational capability.

The name means that the 65,000-ton carrier, its air assets including fighter jets and F-35 stealth helicopters, as well as destroyers, frigates, submarines and supply ships, are ready to be deployed within five days of receiving orders for do this.

Qualified pilots and ground crews are notified.

“This is an extremely significant milestone for HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy and the whole country. This achievement is a testament to the determination of our service personnel and the workforce in the industry to provide this first-rate military capability, a capability held only by a handful of nations, “said British Defense Minister Jeremy Quin in a statement. .

The commander of the transport strike group, Commodore Steve Moorehouse, supported the availability of his unit in a post on Twitter.

“In practical terms, my strike group is now well prepared, which means we have 5 days’ notice to implement, if necessary, in response to global events and to defend British interests,” Moorehouse wrote on Twitter. .

In a follow-up tweet, he suggested what would follow. The staff of the carrier strike group is planning Queen Elizabeth’s first operational deployment, which Moorhouse said will comprise the Royal Navy’s largest peacetime task force in 25 years and will be proof of Britain’s commitment to maintaining world security – “a visible demonstration of global Britain” Moorhouse called it.

The specific dates for the first deployment have not yet been announced.

The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth arrived back at Portsmouth Naval Base last autumn after taking part in major offshore exercises with F-35B Lightning aircraft to prepare it for Carrier Strike Group preparation before the first operational deployment.

Great Britain as a global power

Starting in 2017, UK defense officials say the carrier’s first deployment will include Asia and the Pacific on a route from the UK that will likely take it through the South China Sea.

“Britain is a truly global power of global interest … we must be prepared to compete for our interests and values ​​far, far from home,” said British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson in 2019.

The carrier will take its contingent of state-of-the-art F-35 stealth fighter jets to a region where “China is developing its modern military capability and commercial power,” Williamson said in an address to the Royal United Services Institute. London tank.

But the presence of any foreign warships in the South China Sea is viewed by China. Beijing claims almost all of the 3.3 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles) of the South China Sea as its territory.

Even before the Royal Navy’s preparation announcement on Monday, Chinese military officials warned London against intervening in the region.

“We believe that the South China Sea should not become a battleground for the competition of a great power or a sea full of roaming warships,” said Col. Senior Tan Kefei, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Defense. in a December 31 press briefing reported by the state – Xinhua media agency ran in a post on the official website of the Chinese military.
The foreign powers that sent their warships to the South China Sea, where China built military bases on artificial islands, were behind the “militarization” of the waterway, Tan said.

“The Chinese military will take the necessary measures to protect its national sovereignty, security and development interests, as well as to protect peace and stability in the region,” he said.

NATO and the Chinese threat

Tan’s comments followed a report released late last year by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), of which the British are a major player, considering the rise of the Chinese army a threat to the alliance.

“China has an increasingly global strategic agenda, backed by its economic and military weight. It has demonstrated its willingness to use force against its neighbors, as well as intimidating economic coercion and diplomacy far beyond the Indo-Pacific region.” , is shown in the NATO report. .

“China is increasingly likely to project military power globally, including potential in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

However, a British presence in the South China Sea is not without precedent. In 2018, the Royal Navy’s HMS Albion amphibious assault ship steamed to China’s claimed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, in what Beijing called a “provocative action.”

US sailors complete pre-flight checks on an F-35B aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth at sea on 28 September 2020.
And in 2019, warships in the UK and the US conducted six days of coordinated exercises in the South China Sea.

Cooperation between the United Kingdom and the United States is expected to continue with the next deployment of the carrier in Asia-Pacific.

When Queen Elizabeth held large-scale exercises in the Atlantic last fall, US Navy F-35B and F-35 Royal Navy fighter jets were on board – forming the largest concentration of fifth-generation stealth fighters at sea. The same contingent of aircraft is planned for the deployment of the Pacific.

As those exercises for the carrier strike group began, Moorhouse, its commander, noticed the significance.

“Protected by a ring of advanced destroyers, frigates, helicopters and submarines and equipped with fifth-generation fighters, Queen HMS Elizabeth can strike from the sea at a time and place chosen by us; and with our NATO allies with us, we will be ready to fight and win in the most demanding circumstances, “he said in a statement last autumn.

.Source