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Mighty US and Royal Navy carrier force operates in the Timor Sea
18 July 2025
A mighty allied naval force with US and Royal Navy aircraft carriers at its heart is operating in the Timor Sea as the largest military exercise ever staged in Australia moves up a gear.
HMS Prince of Wales is leading the UK Carrier Strike Group in Exercise Talisman Sabre, which involves some 35,000 personnel from 19 nations spread over a vast area spanning the Northern Territory and Queensland from Darwin to Brisbane.
As allies demonstrate their commitment to the collective security of the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, the US Navy’s George Washington Carrier Strike Group joined up with the UK Carrier Strike Group for dual carrier operations in the Timor Sea – between the Australian mainland and Timor-Leste and Indonesia.
This powerful demonstration of naval power brings together advanced capabilities and carrier aviation, including HMS Prince of Wales’ air group of F-35B Lightning jets.
In the double carrier formation was: US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), US Navy Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls (CG 62), US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG 86), Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09), Royal Navy Daring-class air-defence destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33), Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tide-class tanker RFA Tidespring (A136), Royal Australian Navy Hobart-class air warfare destroyer HMAS Sydney (DDG 42), Royal Norwegian Navy Fridtof Nansen-class frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F311), and Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332).
All three of the UK Armed Forces are involved in Talisman Sabre 2025. Aside from the Carrier Strike Group, UK Commando Forces will be heavily engaged throughout the exercise, alongside a Ranger Battalion from the Army and RAF Voyager aircraft.
In addition, Space Command, cyber and electronic warfare specialists and military medics have deployed to Australia.
UK flagship HMS Prince of Wales with her F-35B Lightning jets, Merlin and Wildcat helicopters provides the carrier strike element, supported by her escort warships.
The task group patrols waters off the northern coast of Australia, while amphibious raids are carried out in northern Queensland and Shoalwater Bay, some 400 miles up the coast from Brisbane.