In this photo essay, we cover the journey of the Carrier Strike Group as it passed through the Suez Canal heading east, taking a mostly direct route and arriving in the South China Sea less than three weeks later.
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The Defence Command Paper published in the wake of the March 2021 Integrated Review promised: “more than £50m will be spent converting a Bay class support ship to deliver a more agile and lethal littoral strike capability”. Here we take a speculative look at the options for the conversion.
Here we summarise recent news and developments concerning the Royal Navy’s future frigate programmes. More
AEUK has sub-contracted the construction of three SEA-class Passenger Transfer Boats (PTB) that will equip HMS Prince of Wales to Diverse Marine, based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight and the vessels will be delivered to the RN later this year.
It has emerged that one of the two Type 45 destroyers accompanying the Carrier Strike Group, HMS Diamond has suffered a defect and remains alongside in a Mediterranean port, having not transited the Suez Canal with the rest of the ships.
In an encouraging statement to Parliament this week, it was revealed that the Type 26 frigates will be equipped with the Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon (FCASW) from 2028. This confirms there has been positive progress with the FCASW project and the RN will be able to field a ship-based land-attack and much-improved anti-shipping capability sooner than expected.
MBDA announced today that the Type 45 destroyers will be enhanced with 24 Sea Ceptor missile cells. Here we consider the implications of this significant upgrade to the Royal Navy’s primary air defence platform.More
After just over two weeks of conducting missions against Daesh in Syria and Iraq, the ships of the Carrier Strike group dispersed to ports in the eastern Mediterranean for a series of visits.
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After a successful ‘proof of concept’ phase, the Royal Navy has awarded a 12-month contract to Airbus for the provision of satellite-based maritime surveillance services to the Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC).