RAF F-35B jets flew alongside a Malaysian Airbus A400M Atlas and an Australian P-8 Poseidon over the Carrier Strike Group, as it continued its eight-month deployment — RAF F-35B jets flew alongside a Malaysian A400M Atlas and an Australian P-8 Poseidon over the Carrier Strike Group, as it continues its eight-month deployment (Picture: MOD)

RAF

UK strengthens Indo-Pacific ties in joint exercise as CSG25 pays tribute to World War 2 sacrifice

UK forces in coordination with Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore have integrated with the Carrier Strike Group in the Indo-Pacific as part of a joint exercise.

Exercise Bersama Lima focuses on enhancing strategic coordination and real-time communication across air, sea and land forces with nations participating in the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA).

An arrangement dating back to 1971, the FPDA continues to play a key role in fostering trust, transparency, and collaboration in the region, particularly in countering the complex security threats posed by terrorism, cyber warfare and natural disasters.

CSG25 is back in Singapore having transited the South China Sea (Picture: MOD)

UK deepens ties in Indo-Pacific

In the coming weeks, the RAF's Air Mobility Force (AMF), including A400M and Voyager aircraft, will participate in Exercise Bersama Lima, supporting both land-based operations and the Carrier Strike Group.

Together, they will align with participating nation aircraft, including the Royal Malaysian Air Force's A400, C-130H and the Royal Australian Air Force C-27 from 35 Squadron.

Exercise activity will be enhanced training with fifth-generation fighter aircraft from the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force.

In addition to military training, Exercise Bersama Lima includes sports and cultural exchange activities aimed at building personal connections and enhancing cooperation among the five participating nations.

Bersama Lima coincides with the integration with the Carrier Strike Group 25, which arrived in Singapore last week as part of Operation Highmast – the ongoing, eight-month deployment led by HMS Prince of Wales.

Sailors aboard HMS Prince of Wales held a Remembrance Service and Committal of Wreaths (Picture: Royal Navy)

Honouring lives lost on namesake battleship

Amidst this operation, the strike group paused to pay tribute to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

On 27 September, sailors laid wreaths over the wrecks of battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the cruiser HMS Repulse, which both perished in the South China Sea on 10 December 1941.

In the autumn of 1941, the brand-new battleship HMS Prince of Wales and World War One-era battlecruiser Repulse formed Force Z and were sent to the Far East by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to deter Japanese aggression.

When Japanese forces invaded the Malay Peninsula, the capital ships were dispatched from Singapore to stop them.

On December 10 1941 – just three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor – Force Z was intercepted by the Japanese in the South China Sea.

Lacking air cover, the two ships were first sighted and subjected to a ferocious and sustained attack by Japanese bombers.

In a valiant, but unequal fight, the duo evaded more than 40 torpedoes but were still hit by four apiece – enough to send them to the seabed.

HMS Repulse succumbed first, taking 512 souls with her, then Prince of Wales, losing 330 men, including the task force commander, Admiral Tom Phillips, and her captain, John Leach, the father of future First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Henry Leach.

Royal Navy divers recovered the bells from both wrecks 20 years ago amid growing fears of plunder by unscrupulous souvenir hunters and scrap metal merchants and returned them to the museum in Portsmouth for safekeeping.

The remembrance service marked the first time the CSG25 has honoured those who went before.