UK, United States and Japan complete joint exercise in the Pacific
Three carrier strike groups and a Japanese helicopter carrier drilled together off Okinawa, the UK's first large-scale demonstration of its renewed Indo-Pacific naval presence.
The United Kingdom, the United States and Japan have completed a joint naval exercise in the Pacific, bringing together three carrier strike groups and a Japanese helicopter carrier off the island of Okinawa. According to Naval News, the UK Carrier Strike Group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth worked alongside the US Expeditionary Strike Group 7, led by the amphibious assault ship USS America, and two ships from Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force, in a demonstration the three navies said proved their ability to operate effectively together.
The drills, named Exercise Noble Union, formed part of the US-led Large Scale Global Exercise 21 and ran for 12 days in August 2021. The assembled force totaled 17 ships from six countries, including a Dutch frigate, HNLMS Evertsen, which is embedded with the UK Carrier Strike Group for its Indo-Pacific deployment. The exercise tested interoperability in air defense, flight operations, gunnery and resupply procedures between the three navies.
The reporting does not specify casualty or incident figures, since this was a training exercise rather than a combat deployment; the available coverage from Naval News is the basis for this account, and no second outlet's independent detail has been retrieved to corroborate specific quotes beyond that single report.
What the exercise involved
Ships involved included the UK's HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Defender and HMS Kent; the US's USS America, USS The Sullivans and USS New Orleans; and Japan's JS Ise and JS Asahi. Per Naval News, the drills achieved the first replenishment at sea between a British warship and a US amphibious ship, and included F-35B fighter operations flown across both the British and American carrier decks.
The framing from commanders
We have shown our ability to work with our allies and as we get accustomed to operating in the Indo-Pacific again these relationships will be important.
That assessment came from Captain Angus Essenhigh, commanding officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth, according to Naval News. Commander Vince Owen, commanding officer of HMS Defender, framed the exercise in explicitly strategic terms: "By conducting this joint exercise we have demonstrated the UK's commitment to the Indo-Pacific – an area critical to global peace." Lieutenant Matthew James of 820 Naval Air Squadron added a more operational note: "It was great to work with USS America and operate from a different deck, as well as mixing it with different aircraft."
What it signals
The exercise came as the UK Carrier Strike Group made its first major deployment to the Indo-Pacific in decades, part of a broader Western naval posture aimed at reassuring regional allies as concern over Chinese military activity in the region grew. Bringing three separate carrier strike groups and a helicopter carrier together for coordinated air defense and flight-deck operations is a higher bar than a routine port call or bilateral drill, and the officers' own language — "getting accustomed to operating in the Indo-Pacific again" — points to a deliberate return to a posture the UK had not sustained at this scale for years.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by Naval News. It restores a story originally published on this site in August 2021; figures are as reported at the time.