An F-35B jet from Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales landed on Japanese carrier JS Kaga during a multinational exercise in the Philippine Sea.
The extensive four-way exercise took place across nine days and involved four battle groups. Alongside the multinational U.K. Carrier Strike Group (CSG) led by HMS Prince of Wales were USS George Washington’s Carrier Strike Group Five, USMC Amphibious Ready Group centred on USS America, and Japan’s Kaga Battle Group.
In total the drills included 11 ships and 23 aircraft from the U.K., USA, Japan, Australia, Spain and Norway. Lieutenant Commander Dan Latham, 809 Naval Air Squadron commented: “It was a real privilege and the highlight of my embarkation so far to land the first UK F35B on JS Kaga.
“Although the hard work to enable this evolution had taken months to prepare, on the day itself all force elements integrated seamlessly. It truly demonstrated the ease with which the UK and Japan can operate together in the Indo-Pacific region, now and in the future.”
And Commander of the UK CSG Commodore James Blackmore added: “Operating together during the many evolutions over the past few weeks demonstrates the enhanced interoperability and the commitment of our partners and allies to the Indo-Pacific region.”
After the exercises had been completed the CSG continued with the next phase of its Operation Highmast global deployment, with the U.K. flagship and destroyer HMS Dauntless calling into Yokosuka Naval Base on Monday, at the start of a three-week visit to Japan.
HMS Prince of Wales will visit Tokyo from late August; and Type 23 frigate HMS Richmond and Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker RFA Tidespring will be visiting Busan in the Republic of Korea.
- You can read more details on the Royal Navy website