UK aircraft carrier escort ship to possibly make PH port call -envoy

Philippine News Agency

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora

April 24, 2025, 3:17 pm

MANILA — There is a possibility of a Manila port call by the escort ship of the United Kingdom’s aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, which will set sail for the Indo-Pacific region in the coming months, UK Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils said.

At a media reception at her residence in Makati City on Wednesday night, the envoy said HMS Prince of Wales departed from Portsmouth on April 22 for its eight-month mission in the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific.

“We expect one of the vessels that is accompanying the carrier to stop in the Philippines,” she told reporters.

Around 2,500 personnel from the Royal Navy and 592 from the Royal Air Force will be involved in the deployment called “Operation Highmast”.

The carrier strike group (CSG) will sail through the Indian Ocean, conducting exercises and port visits with partners including the United States, India, Singapore and Malaysia, before joining 19 partner nations for Exercise Talisman Sabre near Australia.

It also has a confirmed port visit to India and Japan, where it will train alongside the Japanese Self-Defence Forces.

UK Defense Attache to the Philippines Bea Walcott, in the same reception, said the CSG would “spend a little bit more time in the Indo-Pacific region” but said engagement with the Philippines is not yet set in stone.

Should a Manila port visit push through, Walcott said the UK could use the opportunity to build on the bilateral cooperation with the Philippine Navy.

“If we have a port visit then there will be an opportunity, if the Philippine Navy wishes, to sail with them. In terms of anything more than that, we tend to leave discussion for later,” she said.

Beaufils said defense engagements between Manila and London have stepped up in recent years across air, land, maritime, space, and even cyber domains.

And amid growing geopolitical uncertainties in the region, she said the UK is “committed and constant” in its “commitment to peace, stability, and to fostering an open, inclusive rules-based international order”.

The UK Ministry of Defence said this deployment highlights the strength of the UK’s leadership in “seeking to uphold stability in the Indo-Pacific,” describing this area as a “critical region” for British trade. (PNA)