SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Coast Guard Cutter Winslow
Griesser (WPC-1116) repatriated 18 Dominican migrants to a Dominican Navy
patrol vessel June 11 near Samana, Dominican Republic, following the
interdiction of an illegal migrant voyage Monday just off the coast of
Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a June 12 release.

Six other Dominican migrants traveling in the group
remain in federal custody facing possible prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the District of Puerto Rico on potential charges of attempted
illegal reentry into a U.S. territory.

The interdictions are the result of ongoing efforts in
support of Operation Unified Resolve, Operation Caribbean Guard and the
Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG).

“I’m glad that our crew was able to safely recover all
the migrants and provide them with the humanitarian assistance they required,”
said Lt. Luke A. Walsh, USCGC Winslow Griesser commanding officer. “This group
is very fortunate. The dangers in the Mona Passage are quite real, as migrants
risk losing their lives at the hands of ruthless smugglers whose vessels are
ill equipped with little or no emergency and lifesaving equipment onboard.”

A team of Ramey Sector Border Patrol agents detected the
20-foot migrant vessel, transiting without navigational lights, approximately a
mile and a half off the coast of Aguadilla.

Coast Guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan diverted
cutter Winslow Griesser to interdict the suspect vessel. As the Winslow
Griesser arrived on scene, a responding Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of
Rapid Action marine unit stopped the migrant vessel. The Winslow Griesser crew
embarked from the makeshift vessel all 24 migrants, 23 men and a woman, who
claimed Dominican nationality.

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive
food, water, shelter and basic medical attention.

The cutter Winslow Griesser transferred custody of the
six migrants facing federal prosecution to Ramey Sector Border Patrol agents in
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

The Caribbean Border Interagency Group unifies efforts
between U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Attorney’s Office for
the District of Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid
Action. These agencies share a common goal of securing the maritime border of
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands against illegal migrant and drug
smuggling threats.

The Winslow Griesser is a 154-foot fast-response cutter
homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The House Armed Services Committee’s ranking Republican says
his vote to pass the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act will depend
on whether the final bill continues the recent progress is preparing the
military to confront Russia and China or slides back into the readiness crisis
that started with the 2011 Budget Control Act and sequestration.

To ensure continued gains in readiness and future
capabilities, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said June 11 that he will offer an
amendment to increase the bill’s funding by $17 billion, which includes about
$4 billion for additional U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft, ships,
unmanned vessels, weapons and emergency repairs of hurricane damage to two East
Coast Marine bases. Thornberry said he also will propose restoring cuts made by
the majority Democrats in strategic nuclear programs, ballistic missile defense
and personnel issues.

But for national defense to receive even the $733 billion
total offered by Democrats — let alone the $750 billion Thornberry and Republicans
seek — Congress and the Trump administration would have to approve a budget
bill to override Budget Control Act spending caps, which would take nearly $90
billion from 2020 defense spending.

Some conservative Republicans and Trump aides oppose raising
the caps for domestic issues, which the Democrats insist must accompany higher
defense spending. But in a breakfast meeting with defense writers, Thornberry
said he would remind fellow Republicans that the first job of the federal
government is to defend the country. And “if we are going to fulfill our
duties, we will have to take some things that we don’t necessarily like or
want.”

When Republicans fully controlled Congress, they agreed with
the Obama administration on a bill that waived the caps for fiscal years 2018
and 2019, which allowed substantial increases in defense spending and some
growth in domestic programs. So far, no such agreement has been reached for
fiscal 2020 and 2021, which are the last two years covered by the Budget
Control Act limits.

Thornberry said one of the “greatest accomplishments” of the
last two years was “to rebuild our military after it was deeply damaged by sequestration.
… We have seen the consequences of cutting our military, in accident rates and
other things. It’s not like these are just number on a spread sheet. These are
real lives, life-and-death decisions that we make.

“As I look at this year’s bill, the question is for me, does
this continue the gains we have made in rebuilding our military and in being in
a competitive position with Russia and China?”

Within the $17 billion spending increase Thornberry’s
amendment would authorize is funding for four additional Navy F-35Cs Lightning
II strike fighters; two Marine vertical-lift F-35Bs; one more E-2D Hawkeye
early-warning aircraft; more funding for aircraft carrier construction; 38
long-range missiles and additional mission modules for Littoral Combat Ships;
the second fleet oiler and unmanned surface vessels cut by the Democrats;
$748.8 million for Navy hypersonic research; $211 million for the overhaul of
the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74); $1.2 billion for various
personnel programs; and $2.3 billion for emergency repairs of hurricane damage to
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in
North Carolina.

The Republican funding plan also would restore authority to
field the low-yield nuclear warhead for the submarine-launched Trident D-5
ballistic missiles and funding for modernization and expansion of the nuclear
weapons production facilities.

Their draft NDAA also sharply criticizes the Navy’s handling
of the new USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier (CVN-78), which ran far past its
planned budget and production schedule and, due to numerous mechanical and
technical problems, is not expected to be ready for operations until this fall
— more than two years after the Navy accepted it. The NDAA protests that the Gerald
R. Ford is not capable of fully supporting operations of the F-35C Lightning IIs
and it would bar the Navy from accepting the second ship in the class, USS John
F. Kennedy (CVN-79), currently under construction, until it is made compatible
with the F-35C.

Thornberry would not say if he supports the
restrictive language on the Kennedy but said: “Sometimes we need to put things
in the bill to get their attention.”

PATUXENT
RIVER, Md. — The U.S. Navy’s presidential helicopter program awarded a $542
million contract to Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, on June 10 to build
six VH-92A aircraft, spares and support equipment, the Program Executive Office
for Assault and Special Missions announced in a release.

“The team
has efficiently leveraged a proven platform with cutting-edge government
mission systems for rapid agile development of the next helicopters to fly presidential
missions,” said James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research,
development and acquisition. “I am proud of the combined government and
contractor team who has worked so hard to transition this program into initial
production and did so at over $1 billion less than the program’s cost
baseline.”

“The presidential
lift mission is a no-fail mission for the Marine Corps,” said Lt. Gen Steven
Rudder, the deputy commandant for Marine Corps aviation. “We deliver helicopters
and MV-22 transportation across the globe to support the requirements of the presidency.
The authorization to move forward with procurement of the VH-92A will allow the
Marine Corps to deliver the next generation of presidential helicopter
support.”

The VH-92A
aircraft will increase performance and payload over the current presidential
helicopters, VH-3D and VH-60N, that have been serving more than 40 years. The
VH-92A will provide enhanced crew coordination systems and communications
capabilities plus improve availability and maintainability.

Government testing will
continue to validate system performance and prepare for initial operational test
and evaluation planned for mid-2020 and initial operational capability (IOC) in
late 2020.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The merger of the Raytheon Co. and United Technologies Corp. (UTC),
announced June 9, will result in a defense company with a broad portfolio in
weapons, sensors, mission systems, avionics and propulsion.

In a joint
announcement, Raytheon and UTC said they entered into an agreement to merge, naming
the merged company Raytheon Technologies Corp.

“The transaction will create a premier systems provider with
advanced technologies to address rapidly growing segments within aerospace and
defense,” the announcement said. “The merger of Raytheon, a leading defense
company, and United Technologies, a leading aerospace company, comprised of Collins
Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney, will offer a complementary portfolio of
platform-agnostic aerospace and defense technologies.”

Raytheon
is known for missiles and other aerial weapons, radars, undersea weapons,
command-and-control systems and mission systems among other systems. UTC is the
manufacturer of the F135 engine used on the F-35. Collins is known for cockpit
avionics and other aircraft systems.

“Areas of joint advancement include, but are not limited to:
hypersonics and future missile systems; directed energy weapons; intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) in contested environments; cyber
protection for connected aircraft; next generation connected airspace; and
advanced analytics and artificial intelligence for commercial aviation,” the
companies’ announcement said.

Raytheon’s four business sectors will be consolidated into
two sectors, Intelligence, Space and Airborne Systems and Integrated Defense and
Missile Systems. The UTC sectors Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney will
form the third and fourth sectors of Raytheon Technologies.

Tom Kennedy, the current chairman and chief executive
officer of Raytheon, will be appointed executive chairman of Raytheon Technologies
and Greg Hayes will be named CEO. Two years following the close of the
transaction, Hayes will assume the role of chairman and CEO. The company will
remain headquartered in the Boston area.

UTC’s
Carrier and Otis sectors are expected to be spun off into separate companies in
2020.

The
House Armed Services Committee chairman downplayed the partisan differences
over the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization but said the “biggest
threat” to adequate defense funding was the failure to reach agreement on
lifting punishing spending caps.

Although
the chairman’s mark he released would ban funding for low-yield nuclear warheads
for a submarine-launched ballistic missile and defense money to build U.S.-Mexico
border barriers and provide $17 billion less in total defense spending, which
the Republicans oppose, “the overwhelming majority of this bill, that is
incredibly important, is not controversial,” said the chairman, Rep. Adam Smith
(D-Washington).

Addressing
a Defense Writers’ Group breakfast June 10, Smith cited a 3.1 percent military
pay raise, funds to continue improving readiness, efforts to fix deteriorating family
housing, funding for 11 Navy battle fleet ships, including three attack
submarines, and “countless other projects, all of which we agree on,” that are in
the Democrats’ proposal. “The amount of stuff that we disagree on is about 2% of
the bill.”

But
in response to a Seapower question about the impact on defense funding if
Congress and the administration cannot agree on lifting caps enacted with the
Budget Control Act of 2011, which would cut nearly $90 billion from the base
defense budget, Smith said: “You have correctly identified the biggest threat
we face.” Senate Republicans were expected to plead for a deal to lift the caps
during a White House meeting on June 10.

The
committee will take up the NDAA on June 12, and the debate is likely to go well
into the night as Republicans have attacked provisions that came out the
subcommittee process as an unusual breach of HASC’s tradition of
bipartisanship.

Smith
defended the proposed total defense funding of $733 billion as the number
initially recommended by the Pentagon and said the $750 billion requested later
by the Trump administration “would encourage inefficiencies.” Committee
Republicans, however, insisted $750 billion was necessary to meet the 3% to 5%
real growth recommended by last year’s Strategic Capabilities Commission.

Although
Smith repeated his long-held view that the military wants to spend too much on
nuclear arms, he noted the Democrats would fully fund the new B-21 strategic
bomber and the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine to replace the aged
Ohio class and would increase overall spending on strategic programs. Smith and
some arms-control advocates argue that the new W-76.2 lower-yield warhead for
the submarine-launched Trident D-5 missile would reduce the strategic load of
the Ohio boats and increase instability.

Other
controversial issues in the proposed NDAA are a ban on use of defense funds to
build President Trump’s border wall, would require that any use of troops for
border security not affect combat readiness and would be paid for by the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security. It also would restrict the administration’s
ability to reprogram defense funds to use for border security, which the
president did this year.

Although
the proposal would increase the purchase of F-35s for the Air Force, it would
fence some of the funding for the Lightning II pending analysis of ways to
improve the parts supply line for the fighter. Similarly, funding to buy more
of the Marine Corps’ CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters would be curtailed until the
U.S. Navy submits reports on how it will fix technical problems hampering the
program.

There
also will be debate on the nature of a future command to manage space programs,
with the Democrats resisting the president’s demand for a separate service,
which Smith called too expensive and bureaucratic. But Smith said he believes
the Air Force has done a poor job managing space.

SAN JUAN,
Puerto Rico — The Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Doyle (WPC-1133) was commissioned
into service June 8 during a ceremony at U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan,
Puerto Rico, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a release.

The Joseph
Doyle is the 33rd fast-response cutter (FRC) to be commissioned in the Coast
Guard and the seventh to be assigned to Sector San Juan and homeported in
Puerto Rico.

“Today, we
make history as we welcome the USCGC Joseph Doyle, and Puerto Rico is now the sector
in the Coast Guard with the largest number of fast-response cutters,” said Rep.
Jenniffer-González-Colón, who represents Puerto Rico in Congress. “I’m honored
to be the ship’s sponsor of this beautiful cutter and that it is also commanded
by a woman. This is part of the work we do in collaboration with the Coast
Guard, and other agencies, so Puerto Rico can have the necessary resources to
guarantee the safety of our coasts and combat illegal drug trafficking.”

“It is an
absolute honor to be the commanding officer of the Coast Guard’s 33rd fast-response
cutter, but more importantly the seventh fast-response cutter in Puerto Rico,” Lt.
Catherine Gillen said. “My crew and I look forward to serving the people of
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and keeping these beautiful islands
safe.”

“Each fast
response cutter represents an extraordinary resource [that] increases our
search-and-rescue and other multimission capabilities in our area of
responsibility,” said Capt. Eric King, commander of Coast Guard Sector San
Juan. “The Joseph Doyle will contribute to strengthening the coastal security
of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as the nation’s most southern
maritime border.”

Sentinel-class
FRCs are designed to conduct maritime drug interdiction, alien migrant
interdiction, search and rescue, national defense, homeland security, living
marine resource protection and other Coast Guard missions. They can deploy
independently to execute Coast Guard missions and prevent potential threats
from approaching the nation’s shores and offers improved capabilities over the
aging 110-foot Island-class patrol boats it replaces.

The FRC is
part of the Coast Guard’s layered approach to maritime security that also includes
the national security cutter and the offshore patrol cutter. FRCs are 154 feet
long with a beam of 25 feet, and they can reach a maximum sustained speed of 28
knots. They are armed with a 25 mm machine-gun mount and four .50-caliber
machine guns.

Each FRC
is named for a Coast Guard hero who distinguished him or herself in the line of
duty. The Cutter Doyle’s namesake is Capt. Joseph O. Doyle. Born in 1836 and keeper
of the Charlotte, New York, Life Saving Station starting in 1878, he achieved
two impressive rescues that year.

The first rescue
was of the wreck of the schooner B.P. Dorr of Chicago, which was discovered on Sept.
11, 1878. At 9:30 p.m. the ship stranded about one mile west of Doyle’s station.
The vessel was visible by the flare of a strong torch on board despite the
rain. With the six men and the women on board, the vessel safely and swiftly
was returned to the beach under the steady oar of the keeper. The second rescue
in which Doyle showed his skill and bravery involved the wreck of the schooner
Star of Millpoint, Ontario Canada, on Oct. 23, 1878.

Doyle was
awarded the Gold Life Saving Medal for his actions in both rescues.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Navy has reduced the number of F/A-18C Hornet strike fighters it
is modernizing to the F/A-18C+ configuration from 25 to 19, only enough to field
one squadron for the U.S. Marine Corps, according to Michael Land, a spokesman
for the Naval Air Systems Command.

As an upgrade
to the F/A-18C, the F/A-18C+ is equipped with an upgraded APG-73 radar, Link
16, color cockpit displays, a moving-map display, ALE-47 infrared
countermeasures, the Naval Aircrew Common Ejection Seat and the Joint
Helmet-Mounted Cueing System. The service life of the airframes is being
extended from 6,000 flight hours to 8,000 hours.

Originally
the C+ program was to include 30 aircraft, enough to field two squadrons. The
number later was reduced to 25.

The aircraft
are being upgraded by Boeing at its facility at Cecil Field in Jacksonville,
Florida.

As of early May, three of the C+ versions had been completed. Two had been delivered to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 (VMFA-115), one of which had been lost in a mishap. The third has been delivered to reserve squadron VMFA-112 at Naval Air Station Fort Worth in Texas in May. That squadron is scheduled to receive most of the C+ Hornets.

The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) took initial steps June 4-5 toward passing a fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization, with the HASC’s six subcommittees approving the “chairmen’s marks.” But a partisan dispute broke out over the Strategic Forces panel’s language that would block or restrict several new nuclear weapons programs called for in last year’s Nuclear Posture Review.

The full House Armed
Services Committee will take up the subcommittees’ recommendations and other
issues next week.

Other than the partisan controversy in the
Strategic Forces committee over nuclear issues, the recommendations from the
six subcommittees contained generally bipartisan provisions such as a 3.1% pay
raise, added support for service members and their families and approval of
most of the major aircraft, ground equipment and shipbuilding procurement
programs.

The
Seapower and Projection Forces panel, for example, would authorize construction
of 11 battle force ships, including three Virginia-class attack submarines,
three Arleigh Burke destroyers, one new frigate and two towing, salvage and
rescue vessels, which the U.S. Navy had requested. But it cut one of the two
John Lewis-class fleet oilers requested and replaced it with incremental
funding for the second of the Flight II amphibious transport docks that the U.S.
Marine Corps seeks.

The
Seapower mark formally barred the Navy from retiring the aircraft carrier USS Harry
S. Truman early and restored $17 million in advanced procurement for the
carrier’s refueling and overhaul. And it reauthorized the Maritime Security
Program, which subsidized operations of commercial sealift ships and
recommended creation of a tanker security fleet of 10 commercial tankers
supported by that program. The panel also moved to force the Navy to act on the
congressionally mandated program to start building new or buying used vessels
to modernize the aged reserve sealift fleet.

Seapower’s
mark expressed anger that the cost caps imposed on the Gerald R. Ford-class
carriers prevented the Navy from including the capability for Ford to support F-35C
Lightning II fighter. It orders the Navy to include F-35C capabilities before
accepting delivery of the John F. Kennedy, the second ship in the class.

The
subcommittees did not provide details on the numbers of aircraft they were
authorizing, leaving that for the full committee. But Seapower’s ranking member,
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Virginia), said its mark increased the buy of V-22s, P-8As,
E-2Ds and C-130Js. Tactical Air and Land Forces adopted “economic order
quantity” language allowing purchase of parts and material for future F-35s to
help reduce cost. The panel ordered an independent study of the procurement and
lifecycle costs and sustainability of the multiservice F-35 and the latest
Block 4 software.

The
panel restricted half of the authorized funding for the Marine Corps’ CH-53K
until the Navy provides briefings on the technical problems that have delayed
operation of the heavy-lift helicopter. It also demanded detailed plans on
modernization and sustainment of the Navy’s MH-53E helos.

The
Personnel subcommittee increased efforts to stop the epidemic of sexual
assaults and harassment by adding counseling support and protection for
victims, but did not make sexual harassment a crime, which Senate Armed
Services did. The panel authorized personnel increases of 5,100 for the Navy,
3,700 Air Force and 100 Marines and a cut of 7,500 for the Army. It barred the
Pentagon from cutting 18,000 uniformed medical personnel pending an independent
analysis of the impact on medical care.

The
Intelligence and Emerging Threats panel called for “comprehensive and robust”
science and technology and research and development efforts to stop the erosion
of technological advantage, requiring action of 56 specific areas including
artificial intelligence and hypersonics. It also required additional programs
to increase cybersecurity for government and defense industry systems. And it
ordered an independent assessment of the roles, missions and force structure of
the Special Operations Forces, which are shifting from counter-extremism to
great power competition.

The
HASC subcommittees’ proposals traditionally are bipartisan documents crafted by
the majority and minority staffs and passed with minimal discussion, reserving
major debate and conflict for the full committee process, which is set for next
week.

But
the Strategic Forces subcommittee’s mark clearly showed the strong opposition
of HASC Chairman Adam Smith (D-Washington) to the expansion of nuclear weapons
programs advocated by the Trump administration. That included blocking
development of a “low-yield” nuclear warhead for submarine-launched ballistic
missiles and restricting the accelerated production of the plutonium “pits”
that are the explosive core of atomic arms. The mark also prevents the Navy
from developing a hypersonic “conventional prompt strike” missile designed
solely for submarines but leaves open work on a missile for surface warships.

The
partisan nature of the proposed authorization was shown by only the name of
subcommittee chairman, Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tennessee) appearing on the draft,
without the ranking Republican’s name, which was on all the other
subcommittees’ proposals. That was amplified by a statement from the HASC’s top
Republican, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and subcommittee ranking member, Rep.
Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who called it “a partisan and irresponsible” mark “that
makes us less safe, hinders our ability to defend ourselves.” That ensures a
prolonged fight in next week’s full committee markup.

Because
of the strong partisan dispute, the subcommittee had to engage in a prolonged
debate over a Republican amendment that would have removed the language banning
the submarine-launched low-yield weapon, opposing building a second plant to
produce plutonium pits and maintaining participation in the Open Skies Treaty,
which allows the United States and Russia to fly over each other’s countries to
confirm compliance with arms control treaties.

The
amendment was defeated on an 8-10 party line vote. The Republicans then
demanded unprecedented votes on adopting the mark and on sending it to the full
committee, both of which passed by 10-8 party line votes. The fight will be
repeated next week.

The
Readiness Subcommittee completed its markup June 5, calling for action to
address the recent crisis in privately managed family housing, including
adopting a “tenants bill of rights.” The panel also ordered assessments and
long-term plans to mitigate the threat to military installations from the
extreme weather and rising oceans caused by climate change. Because of the risk
to off-base water supplies, the mark would ban the use of fluoride-based
firefighting foam except in actual emergencies and ordered the Navy secretary
to develop requirements for nonfluoride foam by 2025. And it ordered action to
improve the supply of parts for the F-35 and other actions to address the
readiness impact of supply line problems.

Subcommittee
Chairman Rep. John Garamendi (D-California) made a short statement opposing the
president’s use of military funds for the Mexican border wall, while the ranking
member, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado), supported the action because of the
“crisis” on the border. But to maintain the bipartisan nature of the mark, the
panel deferred any action of the border wall money until the full committee
acts next week.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract for 34 ScanEagle unmanned aerial
vehicles for four partner nations adjacent to the South China Sea.

The Naval Air
Systems Command awarded a $47.9 million contract on May 31 to Boeing’s Insitu
in Bingen, Washington, for the UAVs as well as “spare payloads, spare and
repair parts, support equipment, tools, training, technical services and field
service representatives,” according to a Defense Department announcement.

The UAVs will
be built for the governments of Malaysia (12 UAVs), Indonesia (8), the
Philippines (8) and Vietnam (6).

The ScanEagle
is a small Group 2 UAV that can be launched from a pneumatic rail launcher
ashore or from ship and recovered by a line that intercepts a hook on the wing
of the UAV. It can carry sensor payloads such as electro-optical imaging,
infrared imaging and millimeter wave radar. The UAV can stay aloft for 18
hours.

Deliveries are expected to
be completed by March 2022.

LONDON — HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s future
flagship, will deploy in late summer for the eastern seaboard of the United States,
including a port visit in the Washington, D.C., area, where she will host the
Atlantic Future Forum, the U.K. Ministry of Defence announced.

The aircraft carrier, United Kingdom’s largest and
most advanced warship ever built, will make the transatlantic journey for the
second consecutive year to train alongside the U.K.’s closest ally. She will
also make several port calls while deployed before returning home before Christmas.

While in the Washington area she will host the Atlantic Future Forum, which aims at bringing the U.S. and U.K. defense industry and military together to address the changing nature of warfare and shared threats both allies face at home and abroad.

“HMS Queen Elizabeth represents the best of British innovation and is a true embodiment of our international ambition,” said British Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

“The fact that this important ship will have visited
the U.S. twice within her short service thus far is testament to our enduring
transatlantic defense relationship. In the week that we commemorate the 75th anniversary
of the D-Day landings, it is only right that we continue to look at how we can
deepen our global partnerships to promote peace and deter future conflict.”

The deployment, known as WESTLANT 19, will see Queen Elizabeth and her crew conduct deck and warfare trials with U.K. F-35 jets from 17 Test and Evaluation Squadron based in the United States and 617 Squadron based at RAF Marham as well rotary wing training with Merlin and Wildcat helicopters.

While stateside, she will also welcome U.S. Marine Corps vertical-lift F-35s on deck.

HMS Queen Elizabeth remains set to be deployed on global operations from 2021 and when Prince of Wales joins her in the fleet in the near future, the United Kingdom will have one carrier available at very high readiness at all times.

Britain’s prime minister also announced June 4 that
the Royal Navy will ready the HMS Queen Elizabeth to join allies in forming
part of NATO’s major “readiness initiative” when she becomes operational.

“I’m pleased to announce that NATO will soon be able
to call on the U.K.’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and F-35 fighter
jets to help tackle threats around the world,” Prime Minister Theresa May said.

NATO’s “readiness initiative” aims to improve the
readiness of the alliance’s forces to deploy and move within Europe and across
the Atlantic to safeguard international security. Britain will look to make its
aircraft carrier a key part of those plans as the country continues to play a
leading role in the alliance which has been the cornerstone of its defense for
70 years.

“Be it projecting influence for peace, standing ready
to fight, or delivering vital aid around the world, HMS Queen Elizabeth and her
sister ship HMS Prince of Wales will fly the flag of a Global Britain,”
Mordaunt said. “Nothing symbolizes the leading role that we play in NATO more
than our nation’s future flagship being ready to respond to any challenge that
the Alliance may face.”

At the Defence Ministers’ meeting in June, allies
committed, by 2020, to having 30 battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 naval
combat vessels ready to use within 30 days. This was reinforced by allied heads
of state and government at the NATO summit in July.