The UK will deploy its aircraft carrier group to the North Atlantic this year in a ‘powerful show of force’ against Russian threats in the Arctic, British officials said.
“I can announce today that the UK will deploy our carrier strike group to the North Atlantic and the High North this year, led by HMS Prince of Wales, operating alongside the US, Canada and other Nato allies in a powerful show of our commitment to Euro-Atlantic security,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the Munich security conference yesterday.
The group will include Royal Navy warships, F-35 jets and helicopters in what has been dubbed ‘Operation Firecrest’, the ministry of defence said in a statement.
Starmer stressed the need to bolster Britain’s ‘hard power’ and military readiness, calling for stronger defence integration within the continent to cut Nato’s overreliance on the United States.
He also hinted at further alignment with the European Union’s single market – which allows goods, services, capital and people to move freely across member states – and deeper economic integration, six years after Britain exited the EU.
“We are not at a crossroads today. The road ahead is straight and it is clear we must build our hard power, because that is the currency of the age,” Starmer said.
“We must be able to deter aggression, and yes, if necessary, we must be ready to fight.”
His remarks come against the backdrop of strains in the Nato alliance due to US President Donald Trump’s stated desire to acquire Greenland from Denmark – a Nato member – and repeated calls for Europe to spend more on defence.
Starmer said the US is an indispensable ally that has made an unparalleled contribution to Europe’s security, but a more European Nato would help reduce the continent’s overdependence on Washington.
“I’m talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden-sharing in full, and remakes the ties that have served us so well.”
He emphasised that the new normal was for Europe to take primary responsibility for its own defence, as outlined in the Trump administration’s national security strategy, urging ‘a step change’ in collaboration.
Starmer called as well for a new approach to defence procurement to avoid unnecessary duplication in Europe’s defence industrial base, warning that the current fragmentation had left the continent a ‘sleeping giant’.
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