Japan to hold first drills with UK aircraft carrier off Coast of Somaliland

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Friday July 9, 2021
By JUNNOSUKE KOBARA

Counter-piracy exercise in Gulf of Aden likely next week

A F-35B Lightning Jet is seen between night sorties on the HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Mediterranean Sea on June 21. (Photo courtesy of the Royal Navy)

TOKYO – Japan will hold joint exercises with the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time in waters off the coast of the Horn of Africa, likely next week, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters Friday.

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force will partner with the U.K. carrier strike group for drills in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia, ahead of a planned port call in Japan this summer. Naval forces from the U.S. and the Netherlands accompanying the strike group are expected to join in as well.

The focus will be on counter-piracy exercises, with destroyers involved in anti-piracy operations in the area set to participate on the Japanese side.

“We will take on the global security challenge of piracy together with the U.K.,” Kishi said. “We will show we have the will and ability to ensure safe maritime transit.”

Commissioned in 2017 and the U.K.'s largest-ever aircraft carrier, the Queen Elizabeth carries state-of-the-art F-35B stealth fighter jets. The strike group departed in May on a long-term deployment to the Pacific region.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth, the U.K.'s largest-ever aircraft carrier, is now headed to the Pacific for a long-term deployment. © Getty Images/Kyodo

Japan and the U.K. agreed on the joint exercises in a “two-plus-two” meeting of top defense and diplomatic officials in February. The upcoming drills are set to be the first of multiple during the Queen Elizabeth’s stint in the region.

In addition to Japan, the carrier is scheduled to make port calls in India, Singapore and South Korea. It is slated to engage in joint drills with Japan again around the time of its port call there, showcasing unity between two countries with shared values in the face of Beijing’s active military presence in the East and South China seas.

The U.K., Hong Kong’s former colonial ruler, has soured on China amid Beijing’s clampdown there under the territory’s security law, on top of concerns about its early handling of the coronavirus outbreak and alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The Pacific deployment aims to demonstrate its engagement in regional security.

Germany is set to send a naval frigate to the Pacific region this year, reinforcing the message of European cooperation with Japan and the U.S.

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UK projecting its naval prowess, as they cross the Suez Canal

UK Carrier Strike Group Suez Canal transit

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USS Ronald Reagan, HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers train together for first time

BY

ALEX WILSON

• STARS AND STRIPES • JULY 13, 2021

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, foreground, the Royal Navy carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, center, and the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima steam through the Gulf of Aden, Monday, July 12, 2021. (Jason Tarleton/U.S. Navy)

The USS Ronald Reagan and the HMS Queen Elizabeth strike groups conducted a large-scale exercise in the Indian Ocean on Monday, marking the first time the two carriers have trained together.

Along with the amphibious ready group led by the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima and the Dutch frigate HNLMS Eversten, the strike groups worked through a variety of training scenarios in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen, Somaliland and Somalia.

“Our team was proud to operate alongside the UK Carrier Strike Group during this unique opportunity to hone the full scope of our mutual capabilities,” said Rear Adm. Will Pennington, commander of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group and Task Force 50, in a press release Tuesday. “By operating together at sea, we deepen our coalition partnerships and extend our global reach throughout the region’s critical waterways.”

The exercise focused on the “full spectrum of maritime warfare operations” including anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare tactics.

The ships’ crews in several scenarios practiced precision maneuvering, hunted simulated enemy submarines, defended against simulated air and surface threats and conducted long-range maritime strikes against simulated enemy combatants, the U.S. Navy said.

The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey and guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh sail in the Gulf of Aden, Monday, July 12, 2021. (Jason Tarleton/U.S. Navy)

Lt. Cmdr. Joe Kelly, spokesman for Task Force 50, said in an email Tuesday that the exercise was the first time the Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth had steamed together.

“The aircraft carrier is the ultimate expression of global maritime power,” said Commodore Steve Moorhouse, commander of the United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group, in a Royal Navy press release. “Queen Elizabeth, Ronald Reagan and Iwo Jima symbolize the might of the U.S. and U.K. partnership, and the ease with which our naval and air forces can combine here in the Gulf of Aden, or anywhere else in the world.”

The Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group trained in May with the Queen Elizabeth and its strike group conducted off the coast of Scotland.

Monday’s exercise took place during the Ronald Reagan’s deployment to the Middle East, where it has been assisting the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, is in the middle of its maiden operational tour. The carrier departed Portsmouth, England, in late May. It is expected to visit 40 nations – including India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore – in a deployment spanning 26,000 nautical miles in seven-and-a-half-months.

On Monday, the Queen Elizabeth’s official Twitter page posted a picture of the carrier sailing with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

“Good to sail with the Japanese destroyer Setogiri in the Gulf of Aden,” said the post. “We will see more of the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force as we continue to head East into the Indo-Pacific.”