Royal Navy: Annual Carrier Strike Group Multinational Deployment and Trade Promotion Intentions

Key Chapter Title List

1. Overview
2. Growth Agenda
3. Statement of Intent
4. Considerations for Onboard Equipment
5. Participation Costs and Sponsorship Opportunities
6. Country Overview: Indonesia
7. Domestic Activities in Indonesia
8. Country Overview: Singapore
9. Domestic Activities in Singapore
10. Country Overview: Malaysia
11. Domestic Activities in Malaysia

Document Introduction

This report details a large-scale, long-cycle multinational Carrier Strike Group (CSG) deployment operation planned to be led by the UK Royal Navy in 2025. Centered around the flagship HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier, this deployment will last eight months, covering vast sea areas from the Mediterranean to the Indo-Pacific. Its strategic intent is twofold: on one hand, through high-frequency joint exercises, port visits, and coordinated actions with multilateral partners such as NATO, to reaffirm the UK's commitment to the security and stability of key regions (the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific), enhancing strategic deterrence and military presence; on the other hand, it explicitly positions this military deployment as a platform to promote UK trade and industrial exports, embedding a substantive commercial promotion agenda within the framework of military cooperation.

The core content of the report revolves around the deployment's operational route, participating forces, and composite objectives. The operation will involve approximately 2,500 Royal Navy personnel and 592 Royal Air Force personnel, supported by around 900 Army personnel, demonstrating joint operational capabilities. The multinational participation feature is prominent; in addition to key regional partners such as the US, India, Singapore, and Malaysia, Norway will provide a warship for full-time accompaniment, with support also from countries like Canada and Spain. The initial phase of the deployment will be integrated into the NATO command structure, participating in the Exercise Neptune Strike. Subsequently, it will traverse the Indian Ocean, participate in the multinational Exercise Talisman Sabre near Australia, and conduct joint training with the Japan Self-Defense Forces. The report explicitly emphasizes that the Indo-Pacific region is crucial for UK trade, with bilateral trade reaching £286 billion in the 12 months to September 2024, accounting for 17% of the UK's total global trade. This provides economic rationale for the deployment's commercial objectives.

The report focuses on analyzing the specific implementation plan of the deployment as a vehicle for the Growth Agenda. During port visits, the Carrier Strike Group will host a series of trade promotion events, including onboard exhibitions, ship tours, luncheons, dinners, and receptions. This document, as a Request for Information (RFI), primarily focuses on port visits to three countries—Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia—in late June 2025, providing opportunities for UK companies to participate in onboard commercial activities. The report details the planned visiting countries for subsequent months (July to December). Participating companies are required to pay a participation fee of £2,500 + VAT per port event and can access additional event sponsorship opportunities. The report also explains the equipment restrictions (due to operational security) and basic configurations for onboard exhibitions.

The latter part of the report provides in-depth country analyses for the three key visited nations—Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia—and outlines specific domestic activity plans. For each country, it begins with its strategic position in the region, priorities for defense modernization, and defense relations with the UK, then designs tailored onboard promotion activities. For example, in Indonesia, activities will focus on showcasing UK maritime capabilities to align with its naval modernization priorities. The events will be divided into two sessions, targeting Indonesian defense industry representatives and a senior government/naval delegation respectively. In Singapore, a Defense & Security Industry Day and a high-level reception will be held, targeting its highly specialized defense market focused on next-generation technologies. In Malaysia, activities include a Defense & Security Industry Day, a Cybersecurity Roundtable, and a reception, aiming to support its multi-domain military modernization process. These activities are all designed to establish high-level connections, showcase UK capabilities, and pave the way for subsequent commercial cooperation.

In summary, this document reveals a composite strategic operation that tightly integrates high-end military power projection with national economic interest pursuits. It is not only a military manifestation of the UK's Global Britain strategy and its Indo-Pacific tilt policy but also innovatively transforms the Carrier Strike Group into a mobile national brand showcase and trade negotiation platform. This deployment signifies deep synergy between military diplomacy and economic diplomacy. Its execution process and outcomes hold significant case study value for assessing the UK's global role positioning in the post-Brexit era, the maintenance of its alliance networks, and its commercial expansion strategies in highly competitive regional markets.