WASHINGTON, LONDON and PARIS — Several nations have announced their contributions to Operation Prosperity Guardian, a new multinational security initiative in the Middle East to help protect merchant ships in the Red Sea area from drones and missiles.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin formally announced the effort Dec. 18, after previously hinting that collective action is required to protect civilian ships in the region.

To date, Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched at least 100 attacks with one-way drones and ballistic missiles, targeting 10 merchant vessels that represent more than 35 different nations, according to a readout of a virtual meeting between security group participants.

“Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity,” Austin said Dec. 18.

He noted this effort will fall under the purview of the Combined Maritime Forces — a multinational maritime partnership based in Bahrain — and its Task Force 153. The CMF is made up of 39 nations, and its various task forces help secure the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Some task forces also focus on countering piracy across the region as well as and training and partner-building activities.

About 20,000 commercial vessels transit the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden every year, according to the French Navy. Task Force 153 specifically covers the Red Sea and was established in 2022 to address human trafficking and smuggling of both legal materials like coal and illegal weapons and drugs, Defense News previously reported.

The readout of Austin’s meeting noted that task force “could be leveraged to deter attacks under the CMF,” but the Defense Department declined to provide additional information.

Here are some details about forces participating in Operation Prosperity Guardian.

Britain

Britain has committed a Type 45 destroyer equipped with air defense weapons to the international task force.

The Defence Ministry announced Dec. 19 the destroyer HMS Diamond will lead the Royal Navy’s contribution to Operation Prosperity Guardian.

HMS Diamond has been in the region for a little more than two weeks and moved to the Red Sea on Saturday. It was almost immediately called into action to shoot down a suspected Houthi drone aimed at a commercial ship in the area. This was first time the Royal Navy shot down an aerial target since the Gulf War in 1991.

“This is an international problem that requires an international solution. That is why HMS Diamond has joined Operation Prosperity Guardian,” Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said while announcing the work with the security group.

British forces have been on hand with a small fleet of ships in the region. For example, the military operates a flotilla out of Bahrain that includes the frigate HMS Lancaster, three mine-hunting vessels and a Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship.

Italy

Italy will do its part to counter “destabilizing terrorist activity” by sending the multimission frigate Virginio Fasan to the Red Sea, the country’s Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto and Austin discussed maritime security in a video call Tuesday, including options for securing shipping routes to avoid economic repercussions and “dangerous impacts” on commodity prices.

“It’s necessary to increase the presence in the area in order to create the conditions for stabilization, to avoid environmental disasters and also to avoid a resurgence of the inflationary push,” Crosetto said in the statement.

France

The French multimission frigate Languedoc has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the southern area of the Red Sea since Dec. 8 to secure freedom of navigation, the French Navy said in a Dec. 15 statement.

The Languedoc shot down two drones coming from the direction of Yemen that appeared hostile on the second day of its patrol duty. The frigate destroyed a drone threatening the Norwegian oil tanker Strinda on Dec. 11, before moving in to protect the stricken tanker and prevent a hijacking, according to the Navy. A fire aboard the Strinda was brought under control without injuries.

Norway

Norway will dispatch as many as 10 staff officers to the Combined Maritime Forces, the Norwegian Defence Ministry said.

Marita Isaksen Wangberg, a ministry spokesperson, told Defense News the country isn’t sending any vessels.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands plans to contribute two staff officers to the operation. The country doesn’t have any vessels in the area at this time, and the contribution of ships is under review, Navy spokesperson Alex Kranenburg told Defense News.

Spain

Spain has not made a decision regarding its participation in Operation Prosperity Guardian, the Defence Ministry’s spokesperson, Nuria Fernández de la Fuente, told Defense News. Any participation by Spain, the representative added, would not be unilateral but within the framework of NATO or the European Union.

He plans to vacate his role when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conducts a government reshuffle, expected sometime in September.

Wallace told the Sunday Times in an interview he plans to leave Parliament at the time of the next election, expected in early 2025.

Speculation Wallace was planning to leave the Ministry of Defence has been growing in recent weeks foĺlowing his failure to secure the support of the Biden administration and others in his bid to be selected for the post of NATO secretary general.

Wallace subsequently made it known he was no longer in the running for the post.

NATO members’ inability to agree on a suitable replacement for the current secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, was temporarily resolved when he agreed to stay in office a further 12 months.

Wallace, a supporter of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, didn’t offer a reason for his decision to quit, but told the newspaper he was conscious of the toll the years in government had taken on his family.

Wallace, an ex-soldier, has been defense secretary for four years and before that was a security minister.

He has received praise in Britain for his upfront support of Ukraine with a significant supply of weapons and training, but caused a stir a few days ago when he criticized the Ukrainian government for not showing sufficient gratitude to nations like Britain. He noted the U.K. isn’t an Amazon delivery service for military hardware..

Wallace, the longest serving Conservative in the post, has also fought for more money for Britain’s military. The result of the effort may become clearer when an document on how Britain plans to reshape its forces , known as a command paper, is published as soon as Monday.

Wallace ruled himself out of the contest earlier this year to become prime minister despite being an early favorite among conservative voters.

The U.S. Navy’s chief of naval operations and First Sea Lord Adm. Tony Radakin intend to “sign a future integrated warfighting statement of intent that sets a cooperative vision for interchangeablty,” CNO Adm. Mike Gilday announced at the virtual Atlantic Future Forum, being held on board the RN’s new aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth.

“We will synchronize pioneering capabilities, strengthen operating concepts and focus our collective efforts to deliver combined sea power together. By organizing our cooperation on carrier strike, underwater superiority, navy and marine integration and doubling down on future war fighting like unmanned and artificial intelligence, we will remain on the leading edge of great power competition.”

It is unclear what the specifics of the statement of intent will be, but the U.S. and Royal navies have been focusing heavily in recent years on aligning its capabilities to be useful to each other in combined maritime operations. The message from both navies is that this will continue into the future.

Throughout the Royal Navy’s effort to get the Queen Elizabeth ready for deployment, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have been working closely with the service, training British pilots on the F-35B and getting the ship certified to operate them. The Marine Corps’ Fighter Attack Squadron 211 embarked on Queen Elizabeth earlier this month during the ship’s group exercise ahead of a deployment next year.

The Marines will also mix in with Royal Air Force F-35Bs during the QE’s 2021 deployment.

In remarks at the forum, Radkin echoed Gilday’s remarks, saying the two forces needed to continue to work to align efforts.

“Throughout our careers we have had a drive for interoperability with allies,” Radkin said. “But increasingly it feels to us that bar has to be raised. … The obvious example is the U.S. Marine jets on board the QE carrier. That is an obvious example of interchangeability.

“So, we are trying to drive a new standard. Partly to drive all of us to strengthen our interoperability but to go even higher and recognize that interchangeability is going to be an even stronger feature in the future.”

Radkin said the services would focus on four areas to grow this “interchangeability”: undersea warfare; carrier operations; aligning the efforts of the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy to become a cohesive fighting unit; and on advanced warfighting programs such as artificial intelligence and cyber.

The United Kingdom is in the middle of an integrated defense review, initiated after Boris Johnson was elected prime minster. It was interrupted during the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak but appears to be running again. The review could have sweeping impacts on the British defense budget, but it is unclear where the budget ax will fall.

When the review was announced, however, the government promised a “radical reassessment” of Britain’s place in the world.

Future hypersonic weapons engagements will present scant warning cues to platforms, and will be delivered so fast that traditional man-in–the-loop responses will be unable to cope, according to Paul Bradbeer, the electronic warfare operational support sales manager at MASS, a leading British company in the field.

Bradbeer is expected to tell conference delegates at the EW Show, which opens here June 6, that the key to countering this emerging threat will be to use machine learning to automate EW responses.

This, he’s to say, maximizes such defensive capabilities by exploiting every piece of information available to the platform: establishing and filling platform information gaps, using data to locate your position in another’s kill chain, and then taking effective action to disrupt the kill chain.

“In future, we will need machines to interpret these indicators and assess the likely sequence of events. The response could involve machine-led reconfiguration of combat systems and initiation of countermeasures,” Bradbeer said, speaking ahead of the show opening.

The problem is that some platforms, such as warships, rely on legacy command-and-control systems that are often based on human thinking, decision-making and communication — thereby increasing the risk from new and evolving threats, said the executive.

Some navies are aware of the threat, but Bradbeer told Defense News “there needs to be more work done to address the problem.” 

Hypersonic missiles remain a development item at the moment, but work is advancing in China, the U.S., Europe, India and Russia to produce a weapon that would be a game-changer in its ability to defeat the defenses of naval and other targets.

India and Russia are collaborating in the development of the Brahmos II hypersonic weapon.

In April, the Moscow-based news agency TASS reported unnamed sources as saying Russia test fired a missile known as the Zircon at a speed of Mach 8, or 9,878 mph.

No further details were given, although a later story claimed production of the weapon, initially destined for the Russian Navy, could start next year.

None of this has been officially confirmed, and Doug Barrie, the senior air analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, reckons Zircon’s speed profile at best is likely to be “barely hypersonic” at somewhere around Mach 5 or maybe even Mach 6.

The broad rule of thumb is that below Mach 5 a weapon is supersonic, and above it is hypersonic, said Barrie.

Bradbeer noted that as a general guide, some “future hypersonic missiles may be seven times faster than the threats we have dealt with in the past, and engaging from twice the distance.”

IISS’ Barrie said the threat to high-value targets is further exacerbated by the possible attack profile of these new cruise weapons.

“Some of these cruise missiles could fly at 80,000 feet or more, an altitude most naval radars traditionally don’t bother to look [at],” Barrie said.

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and his US counterpart, Ash Carter, signed the deal Dec. 15 on the sidelines of a UK-hosted meeting of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

The intention to deploy US Marine F-35s was announced in September this year, but the formal signing confirms the deal.

Both forces will operate the F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing version of the Lightning II strike jet. It’s unclear at this stage how long the US Marine deployment will last or whether the service will also deploy V-22 Osprey aircraft as part of the package.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said the agreement allows for deployment planning to continue, but did not offer additional details. 

In late September, Capt. Jerry Kyd, the commander of HMS Queen Elizabeth, said he would like to see US Marine Corps F-35Bs and V-22s embark for up to nine months at a time once the warship becomes operational. 

“We’ll certainly see some footprint aboard the ship. The big question is: Do they deploy with us much longer term in the future, maybe for six, seven, eight, nine months from when we deploy? That’s what I would love to see,” the naval officer told reporters during a briefing. 

The first of two 70,000-ton carriers is now virtually complete, and the warship is due to start sea trials in the first half of next year. If things go as planned, the first operational deployment will take place in 2021.  

Fallon said : “Having British and US F35s alongside each other aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth on its first operational tour will further cement our close defense ties as Britain steps up internationally,” Fallon said. “As Britain’s preeminent operational partner, including in our current fight against Daesh, the interoperability of British and American forces is crucial.” Daesh is an Arabic abbreviation for the Islamic State group.

British Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon, left, and US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter attend a London summit with defense ministers from the coalition of countries fighting the Islamic State group on Dec. 15, 2016.

Photo Credit: Stefan Rousseau/Getty Images

A second carrier, the Prince of Wales, is about two years behind the construction schedule for the first of class.

Queen Elizabeth is expected to start fixed-wing flight trials with three British F-35Bs off the East Coast of the United States at the end of the summer of 2018. 

Helicopter flight trials with the Merlin and Chinook are scheduled to take place earlier in 2018.

Britain axed its fleet of small carriers in 2010 as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) and turned to the US and, to a lesser extent, the French to help maintain key operational skills until the new warships became available. UK pilots, engineers and deck handlers, who are currently operating from US Navy carriers, are already working on these skills, which will be important during the deployment of the new British carriers.

The opportunity to deploy US Marine F-35s on the Royal Navy warship has in part been triggered by Britain’s inability to fund the acquisition of sufficient aircraft to provide a credible strike force in the years immediately following the introduction into service of the Queen Elizabeth. 

Red Arrows mark the naming of the British Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, by Queen Elizabeth II on July 4, 2014, in Rosyth, Scotland.

Photo Credit: Chris Watt/Getty Images

Kyd confirmed in September that few British jets would be available for the first operational deployment.

“We are constrained by the F-35 buy rate even though that was accelerated in SDSR in 2015, so initial operating capability numbers in 2020 are going to be very modest indeed. We will flesh it out with helicopters, and a lot depends on how many USMC F-35s come on our first deployment in 2021. But by 2023, we are committed to 24 UK jets onboard, and after that it’s too far away [to say],” he said.

In September, analysts here said embarking US jets was not just about saving British blushes due to lack of aircraft, but it had a wider operational benefit as well. 

“Embarking USMC F-35s does get the UK out of an embarrassing position of having a lot of floating real estate with very little to go on it. But it’s convenient for both sides and there is operational utility in such a policy,” said Doug Barrie, the senior air analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank in London.

The Queen Elizabeth is currently in the final stage of construction ahead of sea trials, which are expected to get underway in the spring of next year. A second carrier, the Prince of Wales, is about two years behind the construction schedule for the first of class.

If all goes to plan, Queen Elizabeth is expected to start fixed-wing flight trials with three British F-35Bs off the east coast of the US at the end of the summer of 2018.

Helicopter flight trials with the Merlin and Chinook are scheduled to take place earlier in the year.

The British aircraft carrier Prince of Wales is about two years behind the construction schedule for the first of class.

Photo Credit: Aircraft Carrier Alliance

Kyd, Britain’s most experienced aircraft carrier captain, said USMC aircraft could embark soon after the F-35B flight trials were complete.

“The US has been across and looked at the carriers very closely. They seem to like what they find and they understand that making this happen is relatively easy. Now, whether they embark in 2018 I don’t know, its probably a bit too early, but certainly soon after,” Kyd said during a briefing with reporters at the Rosyth shipyard in Scotland where the two carriers are being assembled by the BAE Systems-led Aircraft Carrier Alliance.

“The strategic expectation is the USMC will embark with regularity from 2019/2020,” he said.

The opportunity to deploy USMC F-35s on the Royal Navy warship has in part been triggered by Britain’s inability to fund the acquisition of sufficient aircraft to provide a credible strike force in the years immediately following the introduction into service of the Queen Elizabeth.

Kyd admitted few British jets would be available for the first operational deployment, but he said no decision had yet been made about the final number.

“We are constrained by the F-35 buy rate even though that was accelerated in Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) in 2015, so initial operating capability numbers in 2020 are going to be very modest indeed. We will flesh it out with helicopters, and a lot depends on how many USMC F-35s come on our first deployment in 2021. But by 2023 we are committed to 24 UK jets onboard and after that it’s too far away [to say],” he said.

“The numbers depend on the buildup, world events and how many aircraft we keep on the training squadron side that are declared front line. But to give you an idea, the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2015 made a declaration of 24 UK aircraft — two front line squadrons — would be available to go to sea in 2023.

“Why wouldn’t we want to progress interoperability with our closest ally when we have spare capacity, spare space? To me as a naval officer the answer is fairly obvious,” he said. “There will be a stepped approach to that but we have not decided the actual numbers for the December 2020 initial operating capability, or, indeed, the first deployment in 2021.”

The British F-35B force is being shared with the Royal Air Force, which will use it as a strike jet alongside the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The Conservative government committed to buying 138 F-35s in the 2015 SDSR but didn’t give a date to fulfill a pledge many people here think is unlikely to be met anyway.

The British are buying their F-35B piecemeal. To date they have ordered eight aircraft, of which five have been delivered. A further batch of aircraft are expected to be ordered soon.

Analysts here said embarking US jets was not just about saving British blushes due to lack of aircraft, but it had a wider operational benefit as well.

“Embarking USMC F-35s does get the UK out of an embarrassing position of having a lot of floating real estate with very little to go on it. But it’s convenient for both sides and there is operational utility in such a policy,” said Doug Barrie, the senior air analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank in London.

The commander of British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, its ramp shown here, would like to see US Marine Corps aircraft on the warship once it becomes operational.

Photo Credit: Aircraft Carrier Alliance

“Discussions are ongoing about the Marine Corps embarking in the future, including looking at policy-level  decisions, rules of engagement, weaponry coming onboard, how many aircraft, and when, but there have been no decisions made and of course the American’s have to agree to all this,” Kyd said.

The British plan to operate the two carriers but not at the same time.

“Having the two carriers allows us to continuously run one at high readiness, and the planning assumption is the second carrier will be at a slightly lower readiness,” Kyd said.

The base design of the carrier is for a force of 36 jets and four helicopters, but Kyd reckoned the number of jets could eventually be nearly doubled if required.

Embarking USMC air assets onboard the Queen Elizabeth would bring benefits other than F-35 interoperability; it would also give Royal Navy capability planners an opportunity to get a close look at the V-22.

Kyd said the expectation was the tilt-rotor aircraft will always be part of any package USMC deploys to the British carriers

.

Some in the British military have cast an envious eye at the capabilities the V-22 offers for sometime. And while there is unlikely to be funds available for a purchase any time soon, it didn’t stop Kyd including the tilt-wing aircraft in a slideshow illustrating carrier strike group elements and enablers.

The British are using the Merlin and Chinook for initial logistics sustainment of the carrier, but the V-22 could be one of the longer-term options.

Kyd, though, played up the multi-role capabilities of the aircraft rather than just make the case for a fixed wing carrier onboard delivery platform.

“For me, as an operator, the V-22 is a fantastic piece of kit, a big footprint but big capability, too. It’s not just about lifting troops in and out, it’s about bringing stores out to the ship. It’s quick, it’s also discreet for insertion of special forces or Royal Marine raiding parties,” he said.

As a naval officer, Kyd said the V-22’s most important role would be its ability to provide air-to-air refueling.

“That’s really attractive to me. It extends the range and makes my deck cycle time that much easier. V-22 for me would be Christmas, although its expensive,” he said.

The British have had six Tornados operating from a base at Akrotiri, Cyprus, for several weeks, initially providing reconnaissance in support of the humanitarian effort in the region.

Other RAF assets include a Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft operating out of Qatar and a Voyager A330 inflight refueling aircraft.

Parliament had to be recalled from recess by the Conservative-led coalition government to vote on the proposals for the British military to join allies attacking IS.

The overwhelming vote for action by lawmakers endorsed strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq. A separate approval would be sought from Parliament if the government moved to extend the air strikes to the militants in Syria.

Speaking in a six-hour debate on the issue, British Prime Minister David Cameron said there was a strong case to be made for striking IS targets in Syria.

The government also said it would not deploy combat troops on the ground in Iraq.

The British join an alliance of nations including the U.S., France and a growing number of other European and Arab states taking action against the Islamic State group.

Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands are among the nations talking about deploying aircraft to strike IS targets in Iraq.

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said Thursday that the military strikes could last for years.

Analysts here said the British commitment was very niche although it was politically and symbolically important, particularly after the government failed to get parliamentary approval last year to strike Syrian government targets in retaliation for the use by the Bashar al-Assad regime of chemical weapons against civilians in the ongoing civil war.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC earlier today that six Tornados were probably adequate to do the job for now, but that more aircraft could be required later.

The US is already striking targets in Syria and Iraq and nations in the region like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan have also deployed air power against the Islamic State.

Tornados can be armed with dual-mode Brimstone, Storm Shadow and Paveway IV precision weapons.

The British effort mirrors the commitment by France, which has six Rafale fighters permanently deployed at a base in the United Arab Emirates along with a C135-FR tanker and an Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft employed on reconnaissance duties.

The British also have Tornados based in Afghanistan although that commitment is due to end soon as NATO combat forces prepare to exit the country at the end of this year.

Just hours before the British finally entered the fray, the French Ministry of Defense announced that two Rafale fighters had earlier in the day destroyed four Islamic State arms depots near Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

The Rafale pilots dropped four GBU 12 laser-guided bombs, with the help of the Damocles laser guidance pod.

The fighters flew for seven hours, and were refueled four times by a C135-FR and a US Air Force tanker.

The Atlantique 2 delivered a battle damage assessment while flying an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission of some 10 hours.

This was only the second wave of air strikes by the French following an initial attack on Sept. 19, when Rafales hit a supply depot in northeast Iraq — illustrating the difficulty in identifying targets to strike. ■

Email: achuter@defensenews.com, ptran@defensenews.com.