Britain is poised to send an aircraft carrier to the Red Sea to counter drone and missile attacks from Houthi rebels, Report informs via The Telegraph.
The Royal Navy is preparing to step in to replace USS Dwight D Eisenhower when it returns to America, as the Houthis warned of a “long-term confrontation” in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
James Heappey, the armed forces minister, said on Tuesday that the UK may “co-operate with the Americans” and step in to “plug a gap” in the Red Sea.
The UK has two aircraft carriers designed to carry F-35 fighter jets. One is HMS Prince of Wales, which would face its first combat operation if it were deployed. The other is HMS Queen Elizabeth, which has been sent into combat once before.
On Tuesday, Mohamed al-Atifi, the commander of the Iran-backed Houthi forces, said the group was prepared for a long conflict over the Red Sea, where it has launched dozens of drone and missile attacks against commercial and naval ships since November.
The attacks have caused major delays for global shipping, as tankers and container ships are re-rerouted around Africa to avoid the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait, the entry point to the Red Sea between Yemen and Djibouti.
Britain and the US have launched two rounds of joint air strikes on Houthi drone and missile sites, using American F/A-18 Super Hornet jets from USS Eisenhower, and the RAF’s Typhoons launched from a base in southern Cyprus.
However, Heappey said the US carrier, nicknamed “Ike”, must soon return to the US. “The Eisenhower can’t stay there forever, and so there’s a thing about just maintaining a carrier presence in the region where we might cooperate with the Americans to provide a capability there,” he told The House magazine.
He said Royal Navy carriers could be used “when the Eisenhower goes home… if we were needed to plug a gap in US deployments”.
The plans come after weeks of calls for the UK to deploy one of its £3.1 billion aircraft carriers, which are both based in Portsmouth.
The Telegraph revealed this month that HMS Queen Elizabeth was not at optimal readiness for deployment because of a Navy staffing shortage that had affected RFA Fort Victoria, the solid support ship that provides it with ammunition, food and other supplies while at sea.
A sea trial of HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2019 was aborted after the ship sprung a leak. However, a defence source said both carriers were now ready to be deployed if necessary. They stressed the “interoperability” between US and UK forces, after American F-35B jets took off from the deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth during Operation Shader against Islamic State in 2021.
The UK is not set to reach “full operating capacity” – with two squadrons of its own F-35 jets – until next year, but each carrier can support up to 36 jets.
