In Singapore, UK Carrier Strike Group commanders talk upcoming exercises, with key F-35 role

The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales arriving in Singapore on June 23. (Photo credit: British High Commission in Singapore)

SINGAPORE — The UK-led Royal Navy Carrier Strike Group will take part in several training exercises and activities in the Indo-Pacific region over the next few months, including a high-end training exercise involving 19 countries in and around Australia in July.

The exercise, codenamed Exercise Talisman Sabre, will see the British F-35s heavily involved and will be one of the capstone events in the lead up to the United Kingdom declaring Full Operational Capability (FOC) for its carrier strike group concept, as well as the country’s F-35B capability.

Speaking on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales on Wednesday in Singapore where several international warships of the Carrier Strike Group 2025 (CSG25) flotilla were making a port call, Commodore James Blackmore, the commander of the carrier strike group, told reporters that they will also be conducting a dual carrier exercise with a US aircraft carrier while in the region.

“[This deployment is] about the full operating capability of our UK carrier strike group…and it’s about partnerships and allies in the Indo Pacific region, where we are right now.”, he said as he stood amongst F-35s with the city-state’s skyscrapers in the background.

The strike group will also train with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force’s aircraft carrier Kaga, which will also eventually carry Japan’s own F-35Bs following deliveries due to begin at the end of 2025.

The Royal Navy ships will then take part in the Five Power Defence Arrangements air and naval exercise with Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore in September and carry out further training with Indian forces while in the Indo Pacific.

Captain Colin McGannity, the air group commander on the carrier said that “Talisman Sabre an incredible opportunity for us to work with our allies and partners in the region.”

Among the missions being planned by the carrier strike group at the exercise is to launch eight F-35s at a time from the ship along with what he described as other high-end training, although he did not provide further details when asked.

HMS Prince of Wales will also launch Japan-based US Marine Corps F-35Bs from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 242 at Talisman Sabre, having already carried out cross-decking activities with Italian F-35Bs from the carrier Cavour earlier in the deployment.

Eight more F-35Bs will join the carrier near the conclusion of the deployment for Exercise Falcon Strike in the Mediterranean later this year, bringing the ship’s aircraft complement to 24 aircraft of two full squadrons.

The carrier had embarked 18 F-35Bs from 617 Squadron and 809 Naval Air Squadron from the UK’s Joint Lighting Force on board when it left its homeport in Portsmouth for the CSG25 deployment in April, although one is currently at Thiruvananthapuram airport in India having diverted there due to bad weather on 14 June and subsequently developing a technical fault.

McGannity said that efforts are being made to repair the stranded jet and bring it back on board the carrier, although he said that no decisions have been made as to how or when that would happen.

Accompanying the HMS Prince of Wales as the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dauntless, frigate HMS Plymouth and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tidespring along with warships from Canada, New Zealand, Norway and Spain. An Australian destroyer is scheduled to join CSG25 upon the group’s departure from Singapore.