– War Zone – The Royal Navy’s new supercarrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and her escorts are about to finish a series of multi-national training exercises off the coast of Scotland. Notably, the flattop joined the U.S. Navy’s USS George H.W. Bush and members of her own Carrier Strike Group Two (CSG-2) to practice what may become a model for future combined operations between the two navies.

– War Zone – This new method of landing could unlock new possibilities for the F-35B.

– The Guardian – Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson commits ‘colossal’ carriers to embarking on freedom of navigation exercises in pointed remarks.

– Reuters – Britain plans to send a warship to the disputed South China Sea next year to conduct freedom of navigation exercises, Defence Minister Michael Fallon said on Thursday, a move likely to anger Beijing.

– War Zone – Pass or fail, the ship’s sea trials still won’t answer more serious questions about plans for its air wing and the fiscal viability of its sister ship, the HMS Prince of Wales.

– Daily Mail – What a glorious photo opportunity: the new pride and joy of British sea power, HMS Queen Elizabeth, largest warship ever built for the Royal Navy, this week sailed from the Firth of Forth for sea trials. Here is a 21st-century ‘castle of steel’ to strike terror into the nation’s enemies. Except the ship is nothing of the sort. HMS QE and its half-built sister, Prince of Wales, are giant embarrassments. They are symbols of almost everything that is wrong with British defence policy.

– War Zone – The new ships will be key components of the service’s future carrier battle groups, among other missions.

– The Economist – An isolated island battles to hang on to its outpost at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

– Daily Telegraph – he Navy’s delayed new aircraft carrier is facing a morale crisis, it has been claimed, as sailors ‘abandon ship’ because they are bored. In the last few weeks, around 21 sailors have quit aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth – the largest and most powerful warship ever built for the Royal Navy – amid claims morale has dropped “to an all-time low”

– The Guardian – The UK’s Trident submarine fleet is vulnerable to a “catastrophic” cyber-attack that could render Britain’s nuclear weapons useless, according to a report by a London-based thinktank.

– UK Defence Journal – Type 23 Frigate HMS Westminster is now back at sea after a major refit sporting a new radar and a new missile system.

– Defense News – Britain and the US have pledged to work closer together on P-8A maritime patrol aircraft operations in the North Atlantic.

– BBC – US and UK F35 fighters are to deploy alongside each other when the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier begins her first operational tour in 2021. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has signed an agreement with his US counterpart to allow Marine Corps F35Bs to fly from HMS Queen Elizabeth.

– Mirror – The Submarine Service is at the forefront of the Royal Navy’s classified efforts to protect our shores and the Mirror was given access as it sailed.