The British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (HMS Queen Elizabeth) strike group set sail from Portsmouth on the 1st to Scotland to conduct Exercise Strike Warrior 21 with allies, followed by the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific region. She will lead the Royal Navy fleet to Asian waters and visit ports in Japan and South Korea.
The HMS Queen Elizabeth strike group will join more than 20 warships from 11 nations, three submarines and 150 warplanes in the waters of northwest Scotland for a two-week “Strike Fighter Exercise.
The Royal Navy press release states that the Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers HMS Defender and HMS Diamond have sailed, as has the Type 23 frigate HMS Kent, and the AW159 Wildcat helicopters belonging to 815 Naval Air Squadron have also flown. The AW159 Wildcats, part of 815 Naval Air Squadron, also flew off the land base and onto the ship.
After the joint exercise, the HMS Queen Elizabeth strike group will visit India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region. This is the first operational deployment of the HMS Queen Elizabeth strike group and the largest British air and sea task force since the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina in 1982. The deployment is estimated to last about 28 weeks, spanning 26,000 nautical miles (about 48,000 kilometers), during which it will visit more than 40 countries.
In addition to the six British warships escort, the 65,000-ton carrier aircraft include eight F-35B Lightning II fighters with short field and vertical takeoff and landing, and 14 maritime attack helicopters, anti-submarine and airborne early warning aircraft and assault helicopters.
Notably, this is the largest number of warplanes carried by a Royal Navy ship since 1983, and the largest number of F-35Bs ever flown over the sea by the United Warriors.
The Royal Navy expects the HMS Queen Elizabeth strike group to have full operational capability by the end of 2023.
Recent Comments