The Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group would conduct naval exercises on July 22-July 23 in the Bay of Bengal, while en route to the South China Sea.
The armada would be returning with tri-service exercises in Karwar harbour from October 21 to October 23, and in high seas off the coast of Goa from October 24 to October 27.
The Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group would be bringing the focus on the Quad and the Indo-Pacific when the naval force exercised with the Indian Navy’s Rajput class guided-missile destroyer, an attack submarine and an anti-submarine warfare aircraft in the Bay of Bengal while on the way to the South China Sea.
The annual Exercise Konkan rubric conducted from July 22 to July 23 consists of an armada of 12 warships, with more than 30 personnel from the Indian and the Royal Navy. The Elizabeth CSH was on a maiden deployment with state of the art F-35B fighters on board and is accompanied by top of the line destroyers from the US and Netherlands.
After the CSG exercises with the Indian Navy, it will head towards the Indo-Pacific and exercise with the Japanese, South Korean, New Zealand and Australian Navies.
The Elizabeth CSG deployment was a part of Britain’s Indo-Pacific tilt post-Brexit and dovetails into the Quad coalition of the democracy’s efforts to stand up to the growing ambitions and aggression of the Chinese Navy in the Indo-Pacific.
Britain, in part of the effort to this, had decided to permanently station two of its patrol boats in the Indo-Pacific in an order to ensure the freedom of navigation and rule of law in the sea.
The Elizabeth CSG would exercise with the Japanese maritime forces and would make a port call to Yokosuka which is the homeport of USS Ronald Reagon, the only supercarrier of the US which is deployed forward.
The urgency by the Japanese to ramp up their military capabilities and deepen military cooperation with Quad and other allies came at a time when China had emerged as the country’s top security threat.
The Elizabeth CSG, after the Indo-Pacific tour, would conduct tri-services exercises with the Indian military off the coast of Goa in the Arabian Sea, and the joint exercise would be held from October 21 to October 23 in the Karwar harbour and in high seas on October 24 to October 27 with complex amphibious landing manoeuvres and joint operations in all the three spectrums.
The CSG Elizabeth would make a port call at Karwar and Mumbai ports with the top officials of the Indian Military going on-board the aircraft carrier for the operational meetings.
