War on the Rocks – Why is the Royal Navy sending two of its smallest warships to the world’s largest ocean? The First Sea Lord’s announcement of the Royal Navy’s intention to forward deploy two offshore patrol vessels to the Indo-Pacific has been met with skepticism. Given the region’s sheer size and the growing menace of China within the South China Sea, some argue that a frigate is a better platform for this role. But using a frigate, the work horse of the fleet, for all overseas tasking is akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Each new maritime task needs to be judged on its own merits considering its objectives and operating environment.

UK Defence Journal – The UK will operate two Littoral Response Groups, one deploying to the Euro-Atlantic region and the other deploying to the Indo-Pacific.

Defense News – Five of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers are unavailable for deployment, leaving just one warship in the class capable of operations, defense procurement minister Jeremy Quin acknowledged this week.

(Thanks to Alain)

1945 – Two cheers for Great Britain! Why only two? London merits two cheers because it has accepted that “Global Britain” must play its part in a democratic armada meant to face down aggressors who menace their neighbors while degrading freedom of the sea. 

USNI News – The British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (RO8) and its carrier strike group carried out a two-day exercise called Exercise Konkan with the Indian Navy from July 21 to 22 in the Bay of Bengal. The exercise was designed to hone the ability of the two navies to operate together in the maritime domain, according to an Indian Ministry of Defence release. The exercise included anti-submarine warfare, anti-air and anti-surface warfare drills.

Reuters – Britain said on Tuesday it would permanently deploy two warships in Asian waters after its Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and escort ships sail to Japan in September through seas where China is vying for influence with the United States and Japan.

War Zone – HMS Queen Elizabeth joined American and Dutch warships in the Gulf of Aden, an important maritime crossroads.

War Zone – New missiles, and more of them, are set to enhance the Daring class, especially in its vital role of protecting British aircraft carriers.

BBC – More than 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships have shadowed a British warship sailing near Crimea.

Aviationist – UK Carrier Strike Group launching F-35B missions in support of Operation Shader from the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

USNI News – The tracking data of two NATO warships was faked off the coast of a Russian controlled naval base in the Black Sea while the actual ships were moored 180 miles away.

CIMSEC – This British naval deployment gives both political and operational support to the bigger U.S. efforts in the Indo-Pacific. The unstated rationale is sharing the burden against China. 

War Zone – The last thing Britain seems to need right now is a Royal Yacht, a ship that could be as big of a security risk as it is a national symbol.

BBC – On 20 April, the Royal Navy’s latest nuclear-powered hunter-killer submarine, HMS Anson, emerged from a vast construction hall at Barrow-in-Furness, travelled down a slipway and entered the water. All 7,400 tonnes of it. Around 260 miles away in Plymouth, another submarine made its debut that same day. A minnow compared to HMS Anson, this secretive nine-tonne craft may have greater implications for the future of the navy than the £1.3bn nuclear boat. 

War Zone – For the first time, the flagship of the Royal Navy is working with a full-size Amphibious Ready Group.

USNI News – The U.K. plans to have a greater British presence in the Indo-Pacific region, as it adheres to a recent security assessment that calls for a pivot to Asia, the top admiral in the Royal Navy said on Wednesday.

BBC – Two Royal Navy ships are patrolling waters around Jersey and a French patrol vessel is nearby, as fishermen protest over their post-Brexit rights.

USNI News – When the “Wake Island Avengers” of U.S. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211 land on the United Kingdom’s aircraft carrier, it will mark the largest-ever deployment of F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters in the history of the program.

Defense News – The largest fleet of Royal Navy warships to deploy internationally since the 1982 Falklands War is heading to the Indo-Pacific region next month as the British government seeks to raise its presence in the Far East.

War Zone – Her Majesty’s Navy turned down a Merlin equipped with an active electronically scanned radar for a far less cutting-edge solution.

War Zone – Project Vixen is studying how a large high-performance combat drone could undertake missions from the Royal Navy’s flattops. 

Naval News – The Royal Navy announced that the first Merlin ‘Crowsnest’ airborne early warning (AEW) helicopter has entered service with 820 Naval Air Squadron.

Navy Lookout – Following the publication of the Integrated Review last week which set out strategic context and direction for UK defence, the Command Paper “Defence in a Competitive Age” was published today which provides further details on future force structure. Here we summarise the key implications for the RN.

Defense News – Naval shipbuilding has turned out to be among the winners in a reshaping of the British defense industrial strategy rolled out by the government here on March 23.

USNI News – The U.K. Ministry of Defense is thinking beyond its own pair of carriers in how it might use its future 48 F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters around the world.