Op Firedrake – the largest JEF activity ever held
Participant nations have been contributing to the largest JEF-labelled military activity ever held – Operation Firedrake.
Operation Firedrake was the deployment this autumn of a task group built around the UK’s aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth but made up of vessels contributed by Norway and the Netherlands and taking part in air exercises with Finland, Sweden and Norway.
While the task group is being led by the Commander UK Carrier Strike Group, Commodore James Blackmore, it is multi-national by design, demonstrating how forces in the future will likely draw on building blocks provided by allies.
The three phases of Op Firedrake offered a real-world crisis scenario: an initial deployment of national forces, in this case the UK, going through force integration training before requesting support from other JEF nations, and finally transitioning to a NATO response.
Phase two of Op Firedrake – the JEF phase – involved UK, carrier-borne F35-B aircraft launching from the Norwegian Sea joining Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian aircraft to strike targets ashore during Finland’s Exercise Ruska and Norway’s Ex Phoenix Strike. The task group then moved south to take part in the Netherlands’ Ex Friesian Flag.
The final phase takes on a NATO flavour as operational control of HMS Queen Elizabeth transfers for the first time to Strike Force NATO for Exercise Neptune Strike, off northern Scotland.
During a port visit to Gothenburg in October, the Queen Elizabeth became a high-profile venue for a series of defence engagement events: a two-day JEF Response Option workshop; a second iteration of the JEF Forum for regional opinion formers; a press conference, and an evening reception addressed by the Swedish Minister of Defence, Pål Jonson. All events were attended by the UK’s ambassador to Stockholm, Her Excellency Judith Gough CMG.
At the same time, HMS Diamond was in the Baltic Sea, hosting UK premier Rishi Sunak and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson before the JEF Leaders’ summit in Visby, Sweden, then interacting with Baltic naval forces.
Operation Firedrake has successfully raised our profile not just among politicians, the media and opinion formers but also among the ships’ companies and air crews operating in the High North and Baltic, informing them that their hard work is strengthening JEF interoperability. As a result, JEF nations are in a better position to combine forces into a credible response against any threat to regional security.
