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UK to station OPVs ‘permanently’ in Asia

28th July 2021 - 11:51 GMT | by Harry Lye, Gordon Arthur in Christchurch & London

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HMS Spey is one of two OPVs earmarked to be stationed in the Indo-Pacific region. (RN)

After a long-time absence, the UK is set to beef up its naval presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Even as an international carrier strike group (CSG21) headlined by the UK RN aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed into Southeast Asian waters this week, the UK MoD was promising a more enduring naval presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Indeed, Ben Wallace, the UK Secretary of State for Defence, promised whilst he was in Japan on 20 July that two River-class Batch 2 OPVs would arrive in the region later this year.

The two vessels earmarked for this ‘permanent deployment’, in the words of the British Embassy in Tokyo, are HMS Spey and HMS Tamar, and they

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Harry Lye

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Harry Lye


Harry Lye was Senior Naval Reporter at Shephard Media.

Harry joined the company in 2021, …

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Gordon Arthur

Author

Gordon Arthur


Gordon Arthur was the Asia Pacific editor for Shephard Media. Born in Scotland and educated …

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