Type 23 Frigate Gets Key Upgrade For Indo-Pacific Mission

Royal Navy frigate HMS Richmond has received a combat systems upgrade ahead of her imminent deployment on Operation Highmast.

As per a recent Royal Navy press statement, the Type 23 frigate has become the first ship in her class to receive the integrated Link 16 Crypto Modernised system, a new capability which significantly improves the speed at which she can share situational awareness data.

She has also been fitted out with a related Beyond-Line-Of-Sight (BLOS) satellite uplink capability known as the Joint Range Extension Application Protocol.

The upgrades were completed ahead of schedule ahead of her deployment as part of the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) which sails this week for the Indo-Pacific.

“Integration of a modernised Link 16 capability into HMS Richmond is a game-changing enhancement to capability within the U.K. Carrier Strike Group,” said CSG commander Commodore James Blackmore.

“It will provide vastly enhanced situational awareness to ships, aircraft, and the people who operate them while the CSG operates globally, with partners and allies. I am grateful to all who have worked so hard to achieve the integration of this important capability ahead of a global deployment to the Indo-Pacific.”

Aircraft carrier and current RN flagship HMS Prince of Wales is scheduled to set sail from Portsmouth today (Tuesday), according to a recent press statement from the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD). 

She will meet up with the rest of the flotilla off the coast of Cornwall. The CSG is also expected to include Type 23 frigates HMS Portland and HMS Iron Duke, Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless and an Astute-class submarine, as well as supply ships for logistical support, among them RFA Tidespring and KNM Maud.

Royal Norwegian Navy frigate KNM Roald Amundsen will also sail with the flotilla for its entire voyage, making Norway the only nation to join the full duration of the CSG deployment. In total 12 other nations, including Canada and Spain, will be supporting the deployment with ships or personnel across the course of the eight-month deployment.

Around 2,500 personnel from the Royal Navy and 592 from the Royal Air Force will be involved in the mission, as well as about 900 British Army personnel during selected exercises.

En route the CSG will participate in Exercise Neptune Strike under NATO command in the Mediterranean testing high-end maritime strike capabilities. Further exercises and port visits will follow in the Indian Ocean, with partners including the U.S., India, Singapore, and Malaysia.

The CSG will also link up with 19 partner nations for Exercise Talisman Sabre near Australia, train alongside the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, and conduct a port visit to India.

• You can read more details about the HMS Richmond upgrade on the Royal Navy website