Re: Carrier Strike Group 2021 - CSG21
Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 3:06 pm
30 live interceptions of armed Russian jets during carrier group aircraft operations in the Mediterranean
More details of interactions with Russian forces in June were revealed by the Commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group this week.
Cdre Steve Moorhouse was speaking from HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Indian Ocean, via a recorded message to the Pacific Future Forum event held on HMS Prince of Wales in Portsmouth. He said that while operating in the Eastern Mediterranean, jets from his flagship had been launched to conduct missions over the Black Sea which involved flying a round trip of “well over 1,000 miles”. These flights were conducted simultaneously with the first carrier-based combat sorties flown against Daesh.
Assuming they passed through Turkish airspace, missions to the Black Sea were almost certainly supported by air-air refuelling as 1,000 miles is the maximum extent of F-35B range. To have significance, the aircraft would need to perform at least a brief patrol in the area. Returning to the carrier flying on ‘fumes’ is a risk that would be usually avoided for a non-combat mission. It is worth noting that, despite critics complaints about the ‘short legs’ of the F-35B, it has more than double the range of the legacy Sea Harrier FA2 (c460 miles).
The appearance of UK (and USMC) combat aircraft over the Black Sea is another tangible sign that NATO is willing to support its partners and uphold international law in the region. This was followed up by HMS Defender’s innocent passage through the territorial waters of occupied Crimea on 23rd June.
Continues, with links, at - https://www.navylookout.com/30-live-int ... terranean/
More details of interactions with Russian forces in June were revealed by the Commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group this week.
Cdre Steve Moorhouse was speaking from HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Indian Ocean, via a recorded message to the Pacific Future Forum event held on HMS Prince of Wales in Portsmouth. He said that while operating in the Eastern Mediterranean, jets from his flagship had been launched to conduct missions over the Black Sea which involved flying a round trip of “well over 1,000 miles”. These flights were conducted simultaneously with the first carrier-based combat sorties flown against Daesh.
Assuming they passed through Turkish airspace, missions to the Black Sea were almost certainly supported by air-air refuelling as 1,000 miles is the maximum extent of F-35B range. To have significance, the aircraft would need to perform at least a brief patrol in the area. Returning to the carrier flying on ‘fumes’ is a risk that would be usually avoided for a non-combat mission. It is worth noting that, despite critics complaints about the ‘short legs’ of the F-35B, it has more than double the range of the legacy Sea Harrier FA2 (c460 miles).
The appearance of UK (and USMC) combat aircraft over the Black Sea is another tangible sign that NATO is willing to support its partners and uphold international law in the region. This was followed up by HMS Defender’s innocent passage through the territorial waters of occupied Crimea on 23rd June.
Continues, with links, at - https://www.navylookout.com/30-live-int ... terranean/