Extract from oral answer (Lords) on Integrated Review: New Ships - Jan 25
Tuesday, 26 January 2021 08:11
Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Con): My Lords, defence’s integrated
operating concept highlights the need to deploy fully our assets on
a persistent basis. As we discussed last week in Grand Committee,
this can only help defence’s contribution to global Britain. Given
the obvious success of the deployment of HMS “Montrose” to Bahrain,
where it will be for a number of years, does this mean that we will
now see Royal Naval assets forward deployed, perhaps, to Gibraltar,
Singapore or...Request free trial
(Con): My Lords, defence’s
integrated operating concept highlights the need to deploy fully
our assets on a persistent basis. As we discussed last week in
Grand Committee, this can only help defence’s contribution to
global Britain. Given the obvious success of the deployment of HMS
“Montrose” to Bahrain, where it will be for a number of years, does
this mean that we will now see Royal Naval assets forward deployed,
perhaps, to Gibraltar, Singapore or elsewhere?
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence () (Con)
[V]: My noble friend raises an important point, which
effectively goes to the heart of why we have Royal Naval assets and
what we think their primary purpose is. I reassure him that we are
actively expanding the model of permanent forward deployment of
ships such as “Montrose”. For example, HMS “Forth”, like her
predecessor “Clyde”, is currently forward deployed to the
Falkland
Islands; a further Batch 2 offshore patrol
vessel “Medway” is operating in the Caribbean region; and the
recent operations of HMS “Trent” in the Mediterranean and Atlantic
have been centred on our permanent joint operating base in
Gibraltar. We intend to build on this model in the coming months
and it is a key consideration for the role of the new Type
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