Britain is sending its largest naval strike group in years on an eight-month mission across the Indo-Pacific, with the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales at the helm of a 12-nation force that will pass through waters near India, Southeast Asia, South Korea and Japan.
While the deployment aims to project power and deter rivals such as China, Russia and North Korea, observers said it also reflects growing anxiety among US allies in Asia over the direction of American foreign policy under President Donald Trump – and the desire of European partners to help fill potential gaps.
“This is clearly global messaging to all sides,” said Garren Mulloy, a professor of international relations at Daito Bunka University in Japan. “If you had asked me three months ago, I would have said this deployment was primarily aimed at China, Russia and North Korea – and to show that Nato forces can be deployed globally.”
Now, he added, “the elephant in the room” was the Trump administration.
The mission – code-named Operation Highmast – is described by the British Ministry of Defence as the “most ambitious deployment” of its kind since 2021. Nearly 5,000 personnel from Nato members and partner nations including France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Denmark will take part.
HMS Prince of Wales is due to set sail from Portsmouth on April 22. After initial drills in the Mediterranean, the strike group will transit the Suez Canal for joint exercises with Indian forces. Operations with Malaysian and Indonesian militaries are planned in June, followed by a port call in Darwin, northern Australia.
