UK Aircraft Carrier Operates under NATO Command for First Time

UK Aircraft Carrier
HMS Queen Elizabeth flies the NATO flag, as the aircraft carrier and its embarked airwing deploy for NATO’s ‘Neptune Strike’ exercise. ‘Neptune Strike’ represented the first time a UK Queen Elizabeth-class carrier has deployed under NATO operational control. (Crown copyright/UK Ministry of Defence, 2023)
A UK Royal Navy (RN) Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier has operated under NATO command for the first time. HMS Queen Elizabeth was placed under NATO operational control (OPCON) while participating in the alliance’s latest ‘Neptune Strike’ exercise (‘NEST 23-3’), which ran from 30 October to 10 November across the Mediterranean, Baltic, and North seas.
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This was the first time either of the UK’s two carriers had come under direct NATO command, Queen Elizabeth’s feed on X (formerly Twitter) posted on 10 November. For 2022, sister ship HMS Prince of Wales had been the NATO Response Force – Maritime (NRF-M) flagship, but had not operated under NATO OPCON.

‘NEST’ and the wider ‘Project Neptune’ series (encompassing the ‘Neptune Strike’, ‘Neptune Shield’, and ‘Neptune Challenge’ exercises) are what NATO refers to as an ‘enhanced vigilance activity’. The series, established in late 2021, aims to improve carrier strike group (CSG) integration to increase deterrence and defence presence across the alliance’s area of responsibility (AOR), covering the Arctic to the Mediterranean.

For ‘NEST 23-3’, UK, Italian, and Spanish carriers provided the CSG presence, demonstrating the strategic importance of integrating European CSGs in NATO operations. The exercise “highlighted European allies’ maritime strike capabilities, with … the CSGs exhibiting how NATO retains the capability to protect [the region] with naval resources that are organic to the theatre”, said Striking and Support Forces NATO (SFN) – the NATO operational command battle-staff that runs ‘NEST’, in partnership with the US 6th Fleet staff – in an 11 November statement.

UK Aircraft Carrier
Queen Elizabeth sails with ships from its carrier strike group (CSG) during ‘Neptune Strike’. Left is the RN Type 23 frigate HMS Kent; right is the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HNLMS De Zeven Provincien. The CSG also included a second Dutch frigate, plus a German frigate. (Crown copyright/UK Ministry of Defence, 2023)

More broadly, SFN added, the ‘Neptune’ series “[increases] the alliance’s capacity to deter aggression and ‘defend tonight’, if needed”.

The Queen Elizabeth CSG’s integration into ‘NEST’ showed its capability, by helping to create an effective task group alongside NATO allies that can operate across a vast area. It enhances the UK CSG and NATO by bringing together cutting-edge forces ready to shield every inch of the alliance’s airspace, waterways, and territory.



A Royal Navy spokesperson comment to Naval Forces,

Such language reflects the wider deterrent messaging in NATO’s own statements. The Communique issued following the alliance’s Vilnius Summit in July made three separate references to NATO’s united commitment, resolve, and readiness to defend “every inch” of alliance territory from any aggressor.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth CSG was deployed to the North and Norwegian seas on the ‘CSG23’ deployment between early September and mid-November. In early November, the CSG transferred to NATO OPCON for ‘NEST 23-3’. For the exercise, Queen Elizabeth operated in the North Sea; the Italian Navy carrier ITS Cavour and Spanish Navy’s ESPS Juan Carlos operated in the Mediterranean. More than 20 NATO ships and 20 aircraft were present, representing 19 alliance member states and one partner country.

According to NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe’s (SHAPE’s) Allied Command Operations, strike aircraft from the three carriers conducted operations across seven NATO countries – Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Poland. While operating under NATO OPCON, the Queen Elizabeth CSG and other allied units delivered effects across the Joint Force Commands (JFCs) Naples and Brunssum AORs.

UK Aircraft Carrier
An F-35B strike aircraft from 617 Squadron RAF conducts carrier qualification trials at sea onboard Queen Elizabeth in September, as the ‘CSG23’ deployment got underway. ‘CSG23’ culminated in the ship’s participation in the CSG integration-focused ‘Neptune Strike’. (Crown copyright/UK Ministry of Defence, 2023)

“The ‘NEST’ series is a tangible demonstration of the power and capability of the NATO alliance in multi-domain operations, highlighting the natural evolution of NATO’s ability to integrate the high-end maritime warfare capabilities of CSGs to support the defence of the alliance through the execution of enhanced vigilance activities,” SHAPE said, in a 9 November statement.

For Queen Elizabeth, its ‘NEST’ serials also involved conducting complex anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations against the Royal Norwegian Navy’s (RNoN’s) Ula-class diesel-electric submarine HNoMS Utstein, with the carrier’s embarked Merlin HM2 ASW helicopters and a UK Royal Air Force (RAF) Poseidon P-8A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) combining to prosecute the submarine target.

In command-and-control (C2) terms, integration into a multi-carrier force under NATO OPCON was straightforward, as platforms like aircraft carriers that bring a C2 function also bring required commonality in C2 fit.

Across the ‘CSG23’ deployment, the Queen Elizabeth CSG conducted various exercises and missions, including: providing carrier-based strike capability to support the new, RAF-led, multinational live-flying exercise, ‘Cobra Warrior’; working with UK Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) partners, for example exercising with the RNoN in the Norwegian fjords, conducting air operations with Swedish and Finnish aircraft, and hosting a JEF meeting onboard during a port visit to Gothenburg, Sweden; participating in the US/UK/France airpower-focused Exercise ‘Atlantic Trident’, including ‘lily-padding’ aircraft; and undertaking equipment trials, including with new capabilities being tested for the carrier’s Merlin helicopters.

Queen Elizabeth also entered the Arctic Circle for the first time. While operating there, F-35B fighter aircraft from the carrier and Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35s operated together to escort a Russian MPA that flew near the CSG.

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