The Start of Something Special - CSG21 & HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH

 

The Royal Navy currently has two aircraft carriers at sea off the coast of the UK in different stages of working up. HMS PRINCE OF WALES is undergoing sea training and getting ready to carry out a range of flying trials and duties this year ahead of embarking on her programme.

Meanwhile HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH is now at sea with at the heart of a Carrier Strike Group standing up alongside her. At the time of writing, she has now embarked around 18 F35 fighters, and about 9 Merlin helicopters, ensuring that there are nearly 30 aircraft on board.

This represents one of the largest carrier air groups to operate from a Royal Navy carrier in decades, and in terms of raw capability, is to date, the single most potent airwing ever embarked by a British aircraft carrier.

As noted before, this is a huge success story for the Royal Navy, which has spent time and money over many decades investing in a range of different projects to ensure that the UK could field a credible carrier strike capability. This isn’t just about the carrier, but the whole picture of ships, escorts, support and all the enablers required to make it happen.

The result is an asset that is truly joint in nature, and which will be of benefit both to all three UK services, but more widely allies too.

Nowhere is this truer than the fact that a core part of the airwing is derived from the presence of 10 US Marine Corps F35 jets, supported by a large contingent of US military personnel onboard. They form an integral part of the ships company and will be embarked throughout the deployment.

This marks the first time in history that a significant US military force has embarked on a foreign vessel in peacetime as an integrated part of a ships airwing for an operational deployment.

Although highly limited ‘cross decking’  has occurred, usually linked to landing/recovery and possible overnight stops, interoperability is far more limited than some people imagine. In fact other than the odd training deployment (such as a small number of French aircraft embarking for maintaining carrier skills, or the occasional south American ‘touch and go’) it is difficult to find any record of this ever occurring before.

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

Integrated is a quite different concept to that of just landing and taking off. It means that the jets and their crew are part of an integrated weapon system, at the disposal both of the local commander and more senior political decision makers in both nations, to be employed as seen fit.

It means crews embarking as part of the ships company, working seamlessly together as one to plan the mission, arm the aircraft, prepare them for take-off, before conducting a mixed multi-national mission, then recovering to the ship where the aircraft will be serviced by a mixed crew.  In other words, the US Marines embarked onboard are an organic part of the ship and are treated as such.

It is difficult to find words to describe adequately just how big a deal this is – it means that the Royal Navy has built an aircraft carrier that the US armed forces feel comfortable embarking a fully worked up squadron of jets on and conducting routine operations off. The level of planning that has gone into this is huge – it means the right IT, the ability to embark different stores, and ensure that any minor national differences on equipment are properly supported.

From a planning perspective it means that the US is prepared to put its most advanced fighter aircraft onto a foreign vessel and let it be employed operationally – meaning full discussion of tactics, ‘sneaky tricks’ and other very sensitive issues around how to not just exercise together but go to war together as a joint force.

This is a big deal – there are no other countries on earth that do this, and it demonstrates a huge level of trust and support between the two nations.

Some will mock this, incorrectly seeing it as the UK somehow being reliant on ‘Uncle Sam’ to bail them out and put planes on decks. Such a view is tediously inaccurate nonsense. The UK F35 force is still building up to strength and deliveries of the initial 48 (with more very likely) and while this is going on, will not always have l8 aircraft available to deploy.

This doesn’t mean we won’t – it just means that for a little bit longer there may be a smaller than expected UK fixed wing presence. Over time, as the UK commitment grows, expect to see the airwings grow and over time there will almost certainly be 20+ jets onboard plus supporting helicopters.

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

What this deployment of a joint airwing offers is a toolbox of enormous flexibility to British and American policy makers and military planners. It provides an asset that can be used to support NATO or other coalition operations, or if needs must could support bilateral airstrikes instead.

We already know that the airwing will be conducting operations over Syria to take the fight to Daesh in the coming weeks and months. For the first time since 1942 and the “USS ROBIN” (aka HMS VICTORIOUS) the combined air forces of the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and United States Navy & Marine Corps will be going on operations from the shared deck of one carrier.

This is perhaps the ultimate demonstration of the flexibility of the concept – providing a platform that both nations can use to best effect. It is a good example of just how effective the working relationship is that both countries feel comfortable committing their assets to what are essentially wartime operations on the first operational deployment of the ship.

The deployment of the CSG21 team represents the first of many deployments like this, which could run for decades to come. It demonstrates the incredibly close links between the two nations and is a timely reminder of the versatility of the carrier platform.

In what has been a busy week for the Royal Navy, it is worth also briefly remembering that this deployment is not the only game in town. Elsewhere the amphibious forces are stepping up for a deployment into more northern waters, with HMS ALBION helping prepare to lead a deployment that will demonstrate the value of the Royal Navy amphibious capabilities.

Meanwhile there remains a global presence including ships deployed right now in the Med, West Indies, South Atlantic and Gulf, all of whom are actively supporting operations. Even as the world begins to look to life beyond the pandemic, the Royal Navy remains tirelessly on patrol and supporting operations globally.

This has ranged from delivering vaccines to remote overseas territories like Tristan De Cunha, to tackling the threat of mines in the Gulf. This week marks 15 years of a continuous presence by Royal Navy mine warfare vessels in the region, which today houses some of the busiest RN facilities in the world.

As the UK shifts to an Indo-Pacific tilt, and attention focuses on reopening post pandemic and a return to more ‘normal’ military operations, deployments like CSG21 will mark the return for global task group deployments. There is a lot of very exciting activity ahead, and this remains an exciting time for the Royal Navy and its partners.  CSG21 is the start of something very special.