Such presence can also be bolstered by European navies working increasingly closely with the US Navy – for example deploying more surface ships with US Navy carrier strike groups (CSGs), or even deploying their own CSGs, to work with US Navy forces including in the Indo-Pacific region. In this context, France will deploy the FS Charles de Gaulle CSG to the region in 2024.
European navies should seek to fill any operational vacuums in key waters that occur should US Navy forces be required elsewhere, Admiral Pierre Vandier told the ‘First Sea Lord’s Seapower Conference 2023’, co-hosted with the Council on Geostrategy and King’s College London at Lancaster House, London on 16-17 May.
“I think it’s really important […] It’s the case in the Atlantic, it’s the case in the Mediterranean, it’s the case in the Gulf; its regions where we need to be there, where we need to build security […] So, I’m advocating to my European partners to engage with us, especially in the Indian Ocean – to fill the gaps and not let insecurity gain … because of what’s going on in Asia,”
Admiral Pierre Vandier, Chief of Staff of the French Navy
While focusing presence on European waters including the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean is routine as these are home waters for European navies, the Russo-Ukraine war has reinforced the need for European navies to generate more sustained presence across the northern Indian Ocean and into the Gulf, Adm Vandier explained.
“As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe has to sort energy supplies from outside of the continent. Today, nearly 30% of Europe’s energy comes from the Gulf. This is quite new,” said Adm Vandier. “At the moment, the US is less dependent on energy coming from the Gulf,” he added. These factors combine to underline the need for greater and more sustained European naval presence out to the Gulf, including securing sea lines of communication running through three critical maritime choke points – the Suez Canal, the Bab el-Mandab Straits, and the Straits of Hormuz.
Seabed cables carrying data and financial information also pass through the first two of these choke points en route to the wider Indo-Pacific region, the admiral explained.
The need to increase presence, by European navies working with each other and with the US Navy, is demonstrating the requirement to increase co-operation at sea – especially given the time it takes to build greater numbers of surface ships in naval force structures when set against the growing threat. This presents for European navies a “tricky period” over the next decade or so in which asset numbers struggle to balance the on-going increase in levels of effort required, Adm Vandier explained.
“It’s really important to advocate for interoperability and for common engagement,” the admiral continued. “If you count all the frigates the European countries have, you have quite the same size as the US Navy. So, the question is much more what we do together than what we do alone.”
“The more we co-operate, the more efficient we will be,” said Adm Vandier. “The more [integrated] you are, the more complex it is for an adversary to … see where the ‘trigger lane’ is, and [know] what will happen if he strikes it.” “So, navies have huge strategic effect when they are linked and when they operate together,” the Chief added.
Underlining this co-operation particularly out into the Indo-Pacific region, Adm Vandier noted that the navy’s FREMM multi-role frigate FS Lorraine is set to integrate into a USN carrier strike group (CSG) during its current deployment to the region. The navy’s Charles de Gaulle CSG will deploy to the region in 2024. Underlining the increased focus on strategic partnering – for example between the French Navy, US Navy, and RN – the RN’s HMS Queen Elizabeth CSG will then deploy to the Indo-Pacific in 2025.
Speaking at the Defence Leaders’ ‘Combined Naval Event 2023’ in Farnborough, UK on 23 May, RN Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Martin Connell noted that the Queen Elizabeth CSG will deploy to the region in 2025 in the context of such Anglo-French operational co-ordination, and will work with both Indo-Pacific and NATO partners while in the region.
