deploying 18 F-35Bs aboard Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R06) and the Vinson’s ten F-35Cs making a total of 28 then. The exercise in October marked was a major muster of naval F-35s from a variety of nations, with the U.K. The exercise was the largest assembly of U.S naval F-35s to date with a total of 26 aircraft 10 Navy F-35Cs with the “Argonauts” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147 from Naval Air Station Lemoore are embarked aboard Vinson, while 10 Marine Corps F-35Cs from the “Black Knights” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., are aboard Lincoln and six Marine F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing variant aircraft operate aboard America. “Nothing reaffirms our commitment to a free and open Indo Pacific like Carrier Strike Groups, Amphibious Ready Groups sailing alongside our close friends from the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force,” said Vice Adm. The exercises were the largest drills involving aviation-capable ships since the October exercise with the U.S Navy’s Ronald Reagan and Carl Vinson carrier strike groups, the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) and the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) Escort Flotilla 2. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Two U.S carriers and two amphibious ships, along with their escorts and 26 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters drilled with a Japanese large deck warship last week in the Philippine Sea. Pacific Fleet, units assigned to Carl Vinson and Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Groups, Essex and America Amphibious Ready Groups, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. Peacetime reqs are more stringent than wartime reqs.Aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 and CVW 9 fly over the Philippine Sea on Jan. Situations where it would be a purely RN affair and have no input from the RAF are extremely limited - 1. E.g five frigates participated in Joint Warrior exercises last year IIRC, if they would have been needed, those 5 could have formed the task group.įor peacetime/excursions like Libya or Syria, when combined with RAF assets it will more than adequate. They would not jam their fingers in their ears and not contribute.Īs such, any composition in a hot war scenario is debatable because it'd be dependent on the situation at the time. If the Gulf got hot, the assets in place in the Gulf would become part of any RN involvement including destroyers, frigates, tankers etc. One is far more destabilising than the other. As is the idea of say a Type 45 patrolling the Gulf and something flares up, that extra Type 45 - effectively - becomes part of the task group as any major conflict in the Gulf takes precedent over piracy patrols. In '82, Lustys work up was the voyage to the South Atlantic as an example. This is a stupid assumption.Īny ship doing training or work up would be pulled up to form a super task group in the event of a state-on-state conflict. People like taking snapshots of ships locations/deployments etc and take the ones which are sat in port doing nothing to be the available escorts. That's a thing, considering how mixed these carriers are supposed to be, I hope the RN gets used to keeping marinised aircraft on the deck unless maintenance is required. I like Apache, incorporating them into the air group keeps the F-35B from *needing* to do CAS for a good chunk of scenarios. A current AAC squadron consists of 8 aircraft, considering availability that probably results in 6 Apaches ready to go. Oh, also learnt that the Army Air Corps now has a requirement to keep one regiment of Apaches at high readiness consisting of two squadrons one to support 16 Air Assault Brigade and another to support the Queen Elizabeth class. The Queen Elizabeth class seemingly has an aim to be able to throw up a comprehensive ASW screen by herself alone. Also there's no guarantee that any of the accompanying frigates will have a towed sonar array, statistically it's favourable 8/5, but there could easily be only one. In a RFTG configuration, add in an LPD, LSD & RoRo. That's not to say I think there shouldn't be one, there absolutely *must* be one at least. We've seen the RFTG deploy for the last 3 years (I think) with a pair of frigates without a Type 45 in site. Pretty much that's right for peacetime, but make it two escorts than a destroyer and frigate.
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