A Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron has carried out stay weapons coaching off the coast of India whereas launched into HMS Prince of Wales.
The drills kind a part of Operation HIGHMAST, the UK’s flagship naval deployment for 2025.
The Provider Strike Group, led by HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month mission by way of the Mediterranean, Center East and into the Pacific. The deployment consists of forces from a dozen nations and goals to strengthen British defence ties and showcase UK trade in key strategic areas. Operation HIGHMAST entails greater than 4,500 British personnel together with 2,500 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines, almost 600 RAF personnel and 900 troopers.
This mission, often known as Operation HIGHMAST, is the second deployment of the UK’s Provider Strike Group, the primary led by HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021, and is commanded by Commodore James Blackmore. The deployment started with round 2,500 army personnel – together with roughly 2,100 from the UK, 200 from Norway, and related contingents from Canada and Spain. As the duty group progresses into the Indo-Pacific, its numbers will rise to greater than 4,500 for main joint workout routines with allies.
The strike group consists of, however shouldn’t be restricted to, the Kind 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Richmond, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker RFA Tidespring, and allied ships together with the Norwegian frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen, the tanker HNoMS Maud, and the Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec. Between June and December, the drive will conduct a sequence of built-in workout routines and operations with air, sea and land components from a dozen allied nations throughout the Mediterranean, Center East, South-east Asia, Japan and Australia.
The AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat HMA2 is a maritime helicopter operated by the Royal Navy, primarily tasked with anti-surface warfare, drive safety, and reconnaissance. It’s outfitted with a spread of mission methods together with radar, electro-optical sensors, and the power to hold Martlet and Sea Venom missiles, door-mounted machine weapons, and light-weight torpedoes relying on the operational requirement.
Wildcats deployed on Royal Navy warships function in quite a lot of environments and assist each standalone duties and sophisticated strike group operations. When embarked, they act as an extension of the ship’s sensors and weapons methods, providing commanders enhanced situational consciousness and the power to strike targets at vary.
Picture by LPhot Invoice Spurr.