Commodore Steve Morehouse commanding
officer of the UK carrier strike group
said in that sort of cat and mouse type
game, i am absolutely clear they are
turning away at ranges where they are
probably using us to facilitate their
own training in the same way that we
would do it towards them. So it wasn't causing us a concern. They
were not engaging or locking us up or
anything like that whatsoever, but the ranges at which they were flying
were indicative of what they would do
for real.
The new details about britain's maritime
encounter with china which happened
between august and october emerged as
the defense secretary said it is highly
likely the carrier will at some point be
used to launch airstrikes against
terrorist targets, including possibly in
afghanistan. This would be to take out people who
pose an imminent threat to the united
kingdom or our allies.
Ben Wallace said
during a visit to the ship which is on a
stopover in Oman, whether that's next week, next month, next
decade this carrier is in it for the
long run. Sky News was this week given rare access
to the Queen Elizabeth on its maiden
deployment. Dubbed operation fortis from
the uk to the far east and back.
Escorted by a flotilla of royal navy, dutch and american warships and
partnering up with some 40 other
militaries on the way. The carrier has traveled more than forty
thousand nautical miles and counting
since may.
Now headed home CDR Morehouse said the
tour has had an impact, if you are a nation that may want to
cause mischief harm or disrupt, i think you've definitely sat up and
watched what the Queen Elizabeth is all
about he said.
Perhaps the toughest test for its crew
of some 1,600 sailors marines and airmen
was when russian jets closed in as the
carrier traveled through the eastern
mediterranean in june. UK and American F-35 warplanes lined up
on board were scrambled to stop them
from flying overhead. The first time in
living memory that british pilots have
launched at sea to intercept and escort
russian aircraft.
It was great, said commander Mark Sparrow
officer commanding 617 squadron which
operates the F-35 the UK's next
generation stealth warplane. It's
exhilarating enough taking off the
carrier in normal times but when you're
doing it in a rush it adds that edge to
it and then to go and meet in SU-35 or
in SU-34 russian fighter jet visually is
always exciting.
At times pilots were strapped into their
jets, weapons loaded, engines running to
be able to take off as soon as required
over a period of russian activity that
lasted nearly three weeks. Asked what message he thought the
carrier strike group had sent to Moscow CDR Morehouse said we simply are not
going to be bullied around. it is a huge piece of water space and
nations should be able to operate there
freely.
Officers in the operations room said
they were prepared for a similar
challenge. This time from china as the
carrier moved into the south china sea, the most anticipated leg of the journey.
