A demonstration of strength? Royal Navy exercise Strike Warrior 2024
Here we examine the recent exercise Strike Warrior, which served as a certification exercise for the UK Carrier Strike Group and a valuable training opportunity. While there were some notable achievements, this exercise also highlighted some underlying concerns about the state of the force.
Current news
Royal Navy Maritime Autonomous Systems Trials Team disbanded
After a decade of service, the RN Maritime Autonomous Systems Trials Team (MASTT) was formally disbanded last week. The equipment tested by MASTT is transitioning to operational capability and the trials team will be absorbed into the Mine & Threat Exploitation Group.
Royal Navy leadership making every effort to resolve dispute over RFA pay and conditions
While the main attention has been focused on the core issue of pay for Royal Fleet Auxiliary sailors, the long-running dispute between the Maritime Trade Unions (MTUs) and the MoD is more complex than has been presented in the media.
RFA Tidesurge spends two months supporting Royal Navy and NATO warships in the North Atlantic
While the RFA is struggling to get ships to sea, the most active vessel in its fleet, RFA Tidesurge has been sustaining allied warships in the Atlantic and High North.
Are Royal Navy nuclear deterrent submarines being re-supplied mid-patrol?
A recent article in The Sun newspaper suggests that submariners were almost “starved’ while on an epic six-month patrol because the boat could not be resupplied with food as planned. Here, we briefly consider the implications of this report.
SSGNs and SSKs? Imagining an expanded Royal Navy submarine service
A recent paper produced by the Council on Geostrategy suggested that the RN should buy at least one additional Dreadnought-class submarine reconfigured as an SSGN to launch conventionally armed missiles. Here we consider this proposal and other options for increasing the submarine force strength.
What is the state of Royal Navy anti-ballistic missile capability?
On 1st October Iran attacked Israel with ballistic missiles. The US Navy participated in the destruction of some of the missiles but poor messaging by UK politicians led to considerable confusion about whether the RN had contributed to this defensive mission. Here we look at the the RN’s current and future ballistic missile defence (BMD) […]
Will Norway buy Type 26 frigates built in Britain?
In 2023, Norway concluded a thorough defence review and is restructuring its armed forces with increasing spending, spurred by the rising threat from their Russian neighbours. As part of this programme, in April 2024 it was announced they are seeking to procure at least 5 new frigates with help from allied nations. Here we consider […]
The development of a lean crewing solution for the Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigate
Like all navies, the RN is seeking to reduce the number of sailors needed to operate its warships as qualified people are expensive and in short supply. While putting fewer people in harm’s way, a small crew can have limitations. In this article, we look at how the designers of the Type 31 frigate have […]
Should the Royal Navy consider an alternative approach to Multi-Role Support Ship design?
In this guest article, Robert Moyse argues that the RN should take inspiration from the US Marine Corps and consider cheaper, smaller and more numerous vessels to meet the MRSS requirement.