Britain Launches 8-Month Carrier Strike Group Mission 'Operation Highmast' for Indo-Pacific with 4000 Troops

Portsmouth, United Kingdom – As grey waves lapped against the steel hull of Britain’s largest warship, the HMS Prince of Wales readied for a voyage that would span continents, test alliances, and project power across contested waters. On 22 April, the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier will lead a formidable multinational task force in a mission that’s as much about presence as it is about deterrence. Operation Highmast, as the deployment is dubbed, is not just a military exercise; it’s the United Kingdom’s latest expression of strategic resolve in a world defined by fluid threats and shifting geopolitical realities.

The deployment is set to unfold over eight months and will carry the UK’s tri-service military strength from the Mediterranean to the Indo-Pacific. Alongside HMS Prince of Wales, the Carrier Strike Group will include frigates, destroyers, submarines, supply ships, and aircraft—each one stitched into a tightly coordinated naval ballet. Over 4,000 British Armed Forces personnel are involved, including 2,500 from the Royal Navy, 592 from the Royal Air Force, and approximately 900 British Army troops rotating through different phases of the mission. Twelve other nations will augment the group’s presence, including Norway, Canada, and Spain, each lending ships or personnel at various intervals.

UK’s carrier to participate in NATO-led strike drill before heading to Indo-Pacific

The journey begins with an assembly of warships and aircraft off Cornwall before the task group steers into the Mediterranean Sea. There, it will engage in NATO’s Exercise Neptune Strike—a high-end maritime strike drill that will involve up to 24 F-35B Lightning fighter jets operating from the Prince of Wales’ sprawling flight deck. This phase will put the alliance’s carrier-led strike capabilities to the test, with amphibious elements and air power synchronised across allied navies.

But Neptune Strike is only a curtain-raiser. From the Mediterranean, the strike group will pass through the Suez Canal and enter the Indian Ocean, where a new tempo will take hold. Bilateral and multilateral drills with the United States, India, Malaysia, and Singapore are scheduled, as are diplomatic port visits designed to firm up defence ties and expand trade opportunities. According to Defence Secretary John Healey, this is “a unique opportunity” for the UK to operate shoulder-to-shoulder with its partners while underlining the country’s “world-leading capability to deploy a major military force around the world.”

Strategic, economic, and diplomatic stakes converge

The operation is not solely about projecting hard power. The Indo-Pacific region accounts for 17 per cent of the UK’s total trade, valued at GBP 286 billion as of September 2024. As the Carrier Strike Group docks at key regional ports, British officials will leverage these stops to stage industry showcases, trade events, and bilateral engagements aimed at expanding export markets. Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard has framed the deployment as a “strategic investment in influence,” one that will “deliver British jobs and growth” while underlining the indivisibility of Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security.

The deployment also reflects the broader pivot of British defence posture under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government, which recently announced an increase in defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP. Operation Highmast, therefore, becomes more than just a demonstration of capability; it is a visible articulation of Whitehall’s global defence doctrine—one that sees forward presence, joint exercises, and deterrence-by-partnership as core tenets of national security.

Operation Highmast to display the versatility of UK’s maritime force

Later in the journey, the Carrier Strike Group will join Exercise Talisman Sabre near Australia, a massive multinational drill involving 19 partner nations. The UK task group will then sail to Japan for joint activities with the Japanese Self-Defence Forces, before returning to Indian waters to further deepen naval cooperation with the Indian Navy. The deployment also marks a return to high-profile Indo-Pacific operations after a similar voyage in 2021 led by HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Notably, the presence of HMS Prince of Wales—the Royal Navy’s most advanced carrier—serves as a technological and symbolic centrepiece. Its deck, equivalent in size to three football pitches, can accommodate a range of air assets and is supported by the latest in radar, missile systems, and maritime surveillance technology. The ship, along with its sister vessel HMS Queen Elizabeth, represents a generational leap in British naval capability.

For the Royal Navy, this deployment is not just about muscle-flexing. It’s about maintaining credibility in contested maritime spaces, from the Bab el-Mandeb to the South China Sea. For the Ministry of Defence, it’s about proof of concept: that a post-Brexit Britain can still lead, partner, and protect across multiple theatres. And for the 4,000 men and women on board, it’s about eight months of hard sailing, hard training, and high-stakes diplomacy.

As the carrier’s engines prepare to churn the Atlantic into a frothy wake, the message is clear—Britain is not backing out of the global theatre. With steel in its hull and strategy in its sails, the HMS Prince of Wales sails into a world that demands not just presence, but persistence.

Watch- Spey and the Strike Group | Royal Navy