Britain's Prince of Wales aircraft carrier made its Japan debut on Tuesday, arriving at the Yokosuka Naval Base just days after some of its embarked F-35B fighter aircraft touched down and took off from the deck of the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kaga carrier as part of “cross-decking” training activities.
The 280-meter warship, which is in the final leg of a monthslong Indo-Pacific deployment at the helm of a multinational carrier strike group, docked at the base in Kanagawa Prefecture alongside British destroyer Dauntless and Norwegian frigate Roald Amundsen.
The move marks not only the second time since the late 1990s that a British aircraft carrier has docked in Japan — after the HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021 — but also the latest in a series of incremental steps between Japan and European partners to deepen military ties amid concerns over Chinese assertiveness in the region.
The cross-decking activities were part of a larger naval exercise held between Aug. 4 to 12 in the western Pacific that featured U.S., Spanish and Norwegian warships, including four aircraft carriers.
They marked the first time that British short-takeoff-and-landing F-35Bs have landed on a Japanese carrier — a move designed to enhance interoperability, flexibility and operational capacity between the partner navies, especially as Japan just recently took delivery of its first three of a planned fleet of 42 F-35Bs, most of which will be deployed from Kaga and its sister ship, Izumo.
Such a level of interoperability could prove crucial in the case of a contingency, as cross-decking would allow for the extension of flight operations beyond the range of a single carrier or platform, with similar aircraft being refueled or rearmed on different ships, including those from allied and partner nations. As such, the drills also saw U.S. F-35Bs land on Kaga.
The Prince of Wales and the two other warships are part of the U.K. Carrier Strike Group 25. The remaining members of the group proceeded to South Korea.
Before the carrier's arrival in Japan, however, one of its F-35Bs suffered a malfunction that forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing on Sunday at Kagoshima Airport in southwestern Japan. The incident closely followed the forced landing of another F-35B at Thiruvananthapuram Airport in Kerala, India, in June.
After Yokosuka, the Prince of Wales will head to Tokyo for six days from Aug. 28 while the Norwegian warship will be in the Japanese capital over Aug. 19 to 22 before returning to Yokosuka. All three ships are scheduled to leave Japan on Sept. 2.
Tokyo has hailed the visit as a “demonstration of Britain and Norway’s commitment to contributing to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, with a view to realizing a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”
The Japan visit will mark the strike group’s final leg during Operation Highmast — the name of this year’s deployment — before the group reassembles and heads back to Europe.
The route has already taken the warships from Portsmouth in England to the Mediterranean, across the Red Sea via the Suez Canal and through the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia to conduct exercises and port visits with partners such as the U.S., India, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Last month, elements of the strike group took part in this year’s iteration of the multinational Talisman Sabre exercise in Australia and Papua New Guinea, highlighting that the eight-month deployment was not only aimed at showing presence and making port calls.
Just like with the Queen Elizabeth carrier-led deployment four years ago, this year’s mission has tested the Royal Navy’s logistical capabilities as well as its ability to operate alongside regional partners.
This is key as the navy seeks to understand how to better operate and exchange capabilities with non-NATO partners while discussing how best to handle potential regional contingencies ranging from disaster-relief operations and gray-zone activities to countering hostile cyberactivities and engaging in high-end warfighting.
But the British deployments are also meant to send a dual strategic message — one of deterrence to potential adversaries and another of reassurance to allies and partners that Britain remains focused on maintaining stability in the Indo-Pacific.
This comes after the U.K. Ambassador to Tokyo told The Japan Times last year that London will remain laser-focused on the Indo-Pacific as the region remains critical for British economic and security interests.
Of particular importance are ties with Japan, which views Britain as its closest European defense and security partner. In recent years, the scope and frequency of joint military activities with the Self-Defense Forces has grown, including port calls and exercises such as the Vigilant Isles drills.
Many of the military maneuvers are now being facilitated by a visiting-forces pact that entered into force in October 2023.
The Prince of Wales is the third European aircraft carrier to visit the region and exercise with the MSDF over the past 12 months, following the Italian Navy’s Cavour deployment last August and the French Navy’s Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier in February.
The move is part of an attempt by some of Europe’s largest nations to expand security cooperation and interoperability with Indo-Pacific partners.
This has, at least in part, been prompted by fears that a crisis akin to that in Ukraine could erupt in Asia — whether due to developments in the South China Sea or in relation to Taiwan — with both European and U.S. regional allies embracing the argument that Indo-Pacific security is “inseparable” from that of the North Atlantic.
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