NATO and/or the 'Indo Pacific Shift'?

[etudiant]

Originally Posted by WE Branch Fanatic

Yet on the Ministry of Defence website, the big news story is two RN frigates and an RFA tanker leading a security patrol in the Baltic.

There have been other operations close to home involving multiple warships and aircraft - such as this one in late 2020 (three frigates, two patrol vessels, two RFA tankers, and Typhoon and F-35B Lightning aircraft involved), or this one last August, or this one last March.

It would be hard to find any part of the Armed Forces that is not busy.

Busy does not justify the effort, it needs a clear rationale and benefit apart from the training/preparation aspect. One can always keep an Armed Force busy, it is just very expensive to do so.