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Britain’s HMS Queen Elizabeth to lead strike group to Indo-Pacific
- Aircraft carrier’s maiden deployment will last for 28 weeks, cover 26,000 nautical miles and include visits to 40 countries, Royal Navy says
- Strike group will ‘be flying the flag for Global Britain’, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says
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Britain will send an aircraft carrier strike group to the Indo-Pacific next month as it seeks to boost its presence in the region, the Royal Navy said on Monday.
Led by HMS Queen Elizabeth, the group will visit 40 countries, including India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, in a deployment lasting 28 weeks and covering 26,000 nautical miles, it said.
The group will also take part in exercises with the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle in the Mediterranean and with warships and aircraft from its other allies, including the US, Canada and Japan.
While in the Pacific, ships from the strike group will mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Five Powers Defence Arrangements – a series of loose defence agreements between Australia, Britain, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore – with the five countries taking part in a joint drill known as the Exercise Bersama Lima.
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Britain might send aircraft carrier to back Australian vessels in South China Sea
Britain might send aircraft carrier to back Australian vessels in South China Sea
HMS Queen Elizabeth, carrying eight F-35B Lightning strike aircraft, will be joined on her maiden deployment by two destroyers, two frigates, a nuclear submarine and two logistics vessels from the Royal Navy.
According to the navy’s statement, the deployment is intended to bolster Britain’s defence partnerships in the Pacific region.
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