This week the Telegraph is running a series of exclusive essays by expert commentators looking into Britain’s “hollow” armed forces.
Later this spring, over 150,000 tonnes of steel and several thousand military personnel will leave British waters, to sail halfway round the world and back. With the Royal Navy’s carrier strike group (CSG) at its heart this deployment – CSG25 – is intended to send a strong message on the UK’s military capabilities, as well as supporting the government’s objectives on trade and diplomacy. But it could be affected by what successive Defence Secretaries have referred to as the “hollowness” of the UK military.
A fully-formed and equipped carrier strike group is a potent military capability, able to act as a platform for diplomacy even while it prepares to launch strikes on adversaries, or operates and exercises alongside partners. It’s capable of travelling thousands of miles providing its own protection against any threat, carrying its own fuel and supplies.
Central to the CSG are the aircraft carrier and its carrier strike air wing, surrounded by vessels able to defend against attack from enemy aircraft and missiles, or detect and push back hostile surface ships and submarines. The group has the ability to strike targets at sea or on land. The UK doesn’t try to match the power of the US Navy’s carrier groups; rather the Queen Elizabeth class carriers represent an attempt to develop a national capability that provides significant combat power for national interests or in support of Nato Allies.
This week the Telegraph is running a series of exclusive essays by expert commentators looking into Britain’s “hollow” armed forces.
Later this spring, over 150,000 tonnes of steel and several thousand military personnel will leave British waters, to sail halfway round the world and back. With the Royal Navy’s carrier strike group (CSG) at its heart this deployment – CSG25 – is intended to send a strong message on the UK’s military capabilities, as well as supporting the government’s objectives on trade and diplomacy. But it could be affected by what successive Defence Secretaries have referred to as the “hollowness” of the UK military.
A fully-formed and equipped carrier strike group is a potent military capability, able to act as a platform for diplomacy even while it prepares to launch strikes on adversaries, or operates and exercises alongside partners. It’s capable of travelling thousands of miles providing its own protection against any threat, carrying its own fuel and supplies.
Central to the CSG are the aircraft carrier and its carrier strike air wing, surrounded by vessels able to defend against attack from enemy aircraft and missiles, or detect and push back hostile surface ships and submarines. The group has the ability to strike targets at sea or on land. The UK doesn’t try to match the power of the US Navy’s carrier groups; rather the Queen Elizabeth class carriers represent an attempt to develop a national capability that provides significant combat power for national interests or in support of Nato Allies.