Indo-Pacific maritime security role for patrol ship in city this year
Vessel part of UK ‘tilt’ towards Asia
ROYAL Navy top brass will deploy a Portsmouth-based patrol ship to waters in the Indo-Pacific later this year as military leaders seek to bolster Britain’s naval presence in the region.
The vessel, which has not yet been identified, will form part of the UK’s new ‘tilt’ towards Asia which will see more warships being deployed to the area over the next few years.
Expected to be sent to act in a maritime security role, the patrol ship could tackle anything from drug smugglers and criminals, as well as providing a potential platform for Royal Marines of special forces to operate from in the future.
The deployment is part of the UK’s new foreign policy strategy, entitled ‘Global Britain in a Competitive Age’, which mark’s Britain’s first major return to having a persistent naval presence east of the Suez in more than 50 years.
The Royal Navy’s flagship, the £3.2bn aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, will lead ‘Europe’s most powerful’ naval task force on a major deployment to the Pacific in May.
The visit is expected to see the 920ft warship and her flotilla sailing into the Mediterranean, the Gulf and Indo-Pacific. But as part of the government’s integrated review on security and foreign policy, unveiled last month, the trip by Queen Elizabeth will be among the first of many by the navy.
The security review also set out a timeline for when other naval forces will set sail – which includes Britain’s experimental littoral response group.
The task force, made up of amphibious assault ship HMS Albion, Royal Fleet
Auxiliary landing ship RFA Lyme Bay and Portsmouthbased destroyer HMS Dragon, will form the backbone of the new Future Commando Force.
It has been earmarked to sail to the Indo-Pacific in ‘2023’, with a permanently assigned frigate heading to the region ‘by the end of the decade’, defence minister Baroness Goldie confirmed.
She added: ‘These forces will intentionally operate asymmetrically, without a nominated base. They will use existing UK, allied and partner facilities around the region enabled by our existing global support agreements.’
These forces will operate asymmetrically, without a nominated base. Baroness Goldie, defence minister