There is no clearer sign of the vitality of Japan-U.K. security cooperation than the visit to Japan this month of the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales and its multinational carrier strike group, CSG25. The eight-month deployment has spanned the globe, demonstrating British commitment and capability to protect security interests far from home. It is an important statement of intent, one that Japan welcomes and must be ready to build upon.
The stops in Japan constitute the last leg of Operation Highmast. This eight-month, 26,000-nautical-mile (48,152-kilometer) deployment involved nearly 4,000 British personnel from three services — the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and British Army — visited more than 40 countries and included over 70 engagements, exercises and operations. The ships journeyed from England to the Indian Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, and then traversed Southeast Asia before arriving in Japan. With 12 nations providing ships or personnel to support the strike group, the British government rightly deemed this “the most ambitious U.K. naval deployment in a generation.”
The Japan visit is not the first by a British carrier. A carrier strike group led by HMS Queen Elizabeth visited Japan in 2021, and bilateral cooperation has intensified since then.
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