During a trilateral meeting in Toulon on 3 June 2021, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday, Admiral Tony Radakin, First Sea Lord of the British Royal Navy and Admiral Pierre Vandier, Inspector of the French Navy, signed a further cooperation agreement. In it, they renew their commitment to closer co-operation and interoperability around the globe - both in operations and exercises - to meet the challenges of tomorrow and maintain a strategic advantage at sea. Admiral Gilday: "Through continued engagement and dialogue, we are undoubtedly strengthening the collective ability of our armed forces to ensure the free use of sea lines of communication - and the economic prosperity that comes with it. ... The whole is greater than the sum of its parts!"
For his part, Admiral Radakin stated: "Today's trilateral meeting between Marine Nationale, the United States Navy and the Royal Navy, the three NATO nuclear nations and the Alliance's three carrier navies, underlines our shared commitment to NATO and our bold steps towards ever greater interoperability and interchangeability. The deployment of the Royal Navy's Carrier Strike Group 21 is a clear demonstration of this: a Royal Navy carrier becoming a NATO carrier, operating supported by allied fighter jets, frigates and destroyers working as one."
"As we look to the horizon, we recognise that joint challenges will continue to grow in scale and complexity," said Admiral Vandier. "Our three navies must be prepared to respond together in conflicts of varying intensity around the world. Our trilateral training and exercise activities reflect this reality and ensure that we are able to operate together at the highest level."
Trilateral coordination of aircraft carrier navies (from left to right: Admiral Mike Gilday, Admiral Pierre Vandier, Admiral Tony Radakin)
The meeting of the three naval chiefs marks the end of the five-month deployment of the "Charles de Gaulle", which took her to the Persian Gulf. During the Clemenceau 21 mission, the French aircraft carrier led the US Navy's Task Force 50, operated together with the USS "Dwight D. Eisenhower" (CVN-69) and its task force and took part in Operation Inherent Resolve or "Chammal", the military intervention by the USA and France against the Islamic State terrorist militia in Iraq and Syria. From 1 to 4 June, the "Charles de Gaulle" encountered the British aircraft carrier HMS "Queen Elizabeth" as part of the "Gallic Strike" exercise. The exercise focussed on the training of dual carrier operations, i.e. the coordination of operations and joint deployment between two aircraft carriers for coordination in an integrated formation. This includes the simulation of missions against sea and land targets as well as the defence of the carrier group and tactical exercises for the aircraft involved, in this case between 18 Rafale Marines on the French side and 18 F-35Bs on the British side.
The trilateral agreement
HMS "Queen Elizabeth" is at the beginning of her operational deployment. As the flagship of UK Carrier Strike Group 21, she has been leading six ships and a submarine from the Royal Navy, a US Navy destroyer, USS "The Sullivans", and a frigate from the Netherlands, HNLMS "Evertsen", to the Asia-Pacific region since 23 May. The formation, which is expected to return in December 2021, is considered to be the largest merger of naval and air forces that the UK has organised in a generation. Not quite in the sense of a warm-up exercise, it took part in the NATO exercise 'Steadfast Defender' until 28 May and was able to work together with two of NATO's Standing Naval Task Groups and a US Navy Amphibious Ready Group around the USS "Iwo Jima". Her embarked F-35Bs of RAF Squadron 617 practised with other allied aircraft in the NATO exercise Atlantic Trident 2021. Remarkably, "Queen Elizabeth" was involved in a large-scale NATO exercise on her maiden manoeuvre.
The current meeting between the three naval chiefs picks up on the declarations of intent made a year ago. On 12 June 2020, in a virtual conference at the time, they agreed to work together to maintain the rules-based international system. The statement made by the American naval chief Mike Gilday, who promises closer working relations with the British and French navies, can be seen as political finger pointing. After all, three permanent members of the UN Security Council, three nuclear powers and three aircraft carrier navies are all in agreement here. In addition to transatlantic considerations, Indo-Pacific considerations may also play a role. In Europe, the Spanish and Italian navies also have aircraft carriers. The Marina Militare was able to complete the test campaign and certification for F-35Bs on the "Cavour" in spring 2021. The Spanish "Juan Carlos" served as a template for the Turkish Navy's TCG "Anadolu".
Text: Hans-Uwe Mergener; Illustrations: US Navy, Royal Navy/Crown Copyright
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