By the time Britain’s Prince of Wales-led carrier strike group (CSG) returns home from the Indo-Pacific it will have achieved "full operating capability" and set a benchmark for its fleet of advanced F-35B fighter jets, the group's commander said as it left Japan, the final leg of its journey, on Tuesday.
“The successful completion of this deployment will essentially mark the achievement of full operating capability for the entire carrier strike group,” Royal Navy Commodore James Blackmore, the commander of U.K. CSG 25, said in an exclusive interview, adding that this will also apply for the U.K.'s F-35 force.
“It’s about our ability to command and control a carrier strike group at range from the United Kingdom, while demonstrating a mass of sovereign F-35s,” Blackmore told The Japan Times, adding that while the Prince of Wales carrier currently embarks only 18 of the stealthy, short-takeoff-and-landing fighters it will add the final six before returning to Britain in December.
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