In one of his last official acts before his tenure ends today, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller signed a joint declaration with his U.K. counterpart, Ben Wallace, on the deployment of the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. The carrier will be carrying a squadron of U.S. Marine F-35B stealth fighters and the task force accompanying the carrier will include the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer USS The Sullivans. “This deployment underscores the strength of our bilateral ties and demonstrates U.S.-U.K. interoperability, both of which are key tenets of the U.S. National Defense Strategy,” Miller said in a statement issued yesterday.
Wallace said in a statement that the U.K. “now possesses a 21st-century carrier strike capability, which has been greatly assisted by the unswerving support and cooperation of the U.S. at all levels over the past decade.” He also said, “This deployment embodies the strength of our bilateral ties and reflects the depth and breadth of this vital defense and security partnership.”
The Queen Elizabeth task force will deploy later this year on a lengthy voyage which will take it all the way to the waters of East Asia. Stops are expected to include Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Oman, where Britain has a naval support base, reported Defense News. British officials previously signaled the carrier and its support ships could transit through the South China Sea, where the U.S. regularly conducts freedom of navigation operations in disputed waters claimed by China.
