Norwegian Frigate To Join UK Carrier Strike Group For Duration Of Indo-Pacific Deployment

A Royal Norwegian Navy frigate will be among the ships accompanying Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales when she deploys to the Indo-Pacific this year.

The news was announced yesterday (Thursday) by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as part of a wider declaration of a new defence agreement between the U.K. and Norway.

The as-yet unidentified frigate will sail with the British carrier for its entire voyage, making Norway the only nation to join the full duration of the U.K.’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) deployment, as per the MoD statement.

The deployment is expected to last around seven months; a second Norwegian ship is also expected to join the flotilla. As usual the CSG will be led by the carrier embarked with F-35B Lightning jets; the rest of the U.K. formation will consist of warships, support vessels, and perhaps submarines.

In preparation for the trip,  the U.K. and Norway will both shortly be participating in this year’s iteration of Exercise Tamber Shield, which was first conducted in 2023. Last year the exercise was conducted under the auspices of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) and ran between April 17 and May 3 along the Norwegian coast close to Bergen. 

Norwegian Navy frigate KNM Roald Amundsen took part, along with three corvettes: KNM Gnist, KNM Storm and KNM Glimt. The U.K. assets taking part included four P2000 patrol boats — HMS Biter, HMS Exploit, HMS Trumpeter and HMS Blazer — and four Wildcat helicopters, all stationed at Haakonsvern.

The JEF’s constituent nations are the U.K., Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

Yesterday’s announcement of the new U.K-Norway defence agreement was made by U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey during a visit near Kirkenes on the Russian border, 400km inside the Arctic Circle.

Standing alongside Norway Defence Minister Tore Sandvik, Mr Healey commented: “Kickstarting work on a deep, ambitious new defence agreement with Norway shows the U.K. promise to step up on European security in action.

“Norway remains one of the U.K.’s most important allies. We will create a new era of defence partnership to bring us closer than ever before as we tackle increasing threats, strengthen NATO, and boost our security in the High North.”

Mr Sandvik added: “The United Kingdom is Norway’s closest and most important ally in Europe, and our two countries have maintained a close and strong security and defence cooperation for many years. We now face many of the same security challenges in a time of great uncertainty.

“It is therefore natural for us to strengthen our ties even further to enhance both our own and our allies’ security while safeguarding our shared strategic interests. At the same time, we will contribute to making NATO stronger.”

• You can read more details about the new defence agreement on the U.K. MoD website