New Zealand will send a warship, HMNZS Te Kaha, an ANZAC-class frigate, to join the UK Carrier Strike Group 2025 (CSG25) deployment when the multinational force reaches the Indian Ocean.
Shortly after, when CSG25 reach the Philippines, the Spanish Navy ship, Méndez Núñez (F-104), an Alvaro de Bazan-class frigate, will depart from the group, beginning its transit back to Ferrol Naval Base in Northern Spain.
The UK CSG, led by HMS Prince of Wales, the second of two British carriers, will depart from Portsmouth on 22 April on an eight-month voyage to the Indo-Pacific in a joint effort that the UK Royal Navy has designated Operation Highmast.
A consistent Royal Navy presence will lead the group throughout the journey, albeit some vessels from partner nations will join and depart when and where necessary under their own command. Other contributors include Canada, New Zealand, Norway and Spain, while Sweden provides some of its personnel.
Maintaining strength
It is notable that the Royal Navy will only provide half of what it had deployed in the previous CSG in 2021. At that time, the service sent two Type 45 destroyers and two Type 23 frigates to sail as escorts to the flagship carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The Royal Navy will lean slightly more on frigates from partner navies to help project a more credible deterrence throughout the deployment, which will enter contested waters in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Nonetheless, joint deterrence appears to be working as the UK Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Tony Radakin, was sent to China to speak with military counterparts in the weeks leading up to the CSG deployment. It is likely that Radakin would have put to rest any fears in Beijing about their presence in the South and East China Seas later this year.
This switch between Te Kaha and Méndez Núñez demonstrates the effort in maintaining a consistent power projection in a dangerous part of the world.
Te Kaha is nine-years older than Méndez Núñez. However, the two ships are both general-purpose vessels capable of meeting simultaneous threats from the air, surface, and sub-surface.
CSG: air wing component
Part of the strength of the CSG this year is with its airwing component, particularly the number of F-35B Lightning II combat aircraft that will operate from HMS Prince of Wales.
The Council of Geostrategy, in an update in The Broadside, revealed that the Lightning force will be at full operational capability, which includes 24 aircraft.
“This is a significant moment,” Sea Power Research Fellow Dr Emma Salisbury observed, “which means that the aircraft and its associated support and engineering is working at its full potential to be able to deploy two squadrons wherever they are required in the world.”
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