UK to deploy aircraft carrier group to Arctic this year: PM

MUNICH: The UK will deploy its aircraft carrier group to the North Atlantic this year in a “powerful show of force” against Russian threats in the Arctic, British officials said Saturday.

“I can announce today that the UK will deploy our carrier strike group to the North Atlantic and the High North this year, led by HMS Prince of Wales, operating alongside the US, Canada and other NATO allies in a powerful show of our commitment to Euro-Atlantic security,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the Munich security conference.

The group will include Royal Navy warships, F-35 jets and helicopters in what has been dubbed “Operation Firecrest,” the ministry of defence said in a statement.

It will be a “powerful show of force … to deter Russian aggression and protect vital undersea infrastructure”.

The HMS Prince of Wales is the Royal Navy’s largest warship and US aircraft are also expected to operate from its deck.

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The operation will involve thousands of personnel from all three services of the Armed Forces, the MoD statement added.

“The deployment will include activity under NATO’s Arctic Sentry mission, launched this week, strengthening the Alliance’s security in a region where melting sea ice is opening new routes and increasing threat from hostile state activity,” the ministry said.

France has also announced that it will deploy its aircraft carrier group in the region in 2026.

Starmer told the Munich conference that Britain must be “ready to fight”.

Leaders must not dither as “Russia has proved its appetite for aggression,” he said.

“The road ahead is straight and it is clear. We must build our hard power, because that is the currency of the age,” he added.

“We must be able to deter aggression , and, yes, if necessary, we must be ready to fight.”

The defence ministry said the deployment would reinforce “NATO’s deterrence at a time of rising Russian threats in the region”.

It added that “over the past two years, there has been a 30 percent increase in Russian navy vessels threatening UK waters”.

US President Donald Trump has also unnerved European countries by saying Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic, should come under US control.

Trump said last month however that an understanding had been reached with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte that would give the United States greater influence in the mineral-rich and strategically placed territory.