The UK is re-deploying its Type 45 air-defence destroyer HMS Dragon to the Middle East, to pre-position the ship in preparation for any potential multinational mission to secure Strait of Hormuz commercial shipping transits. Such a mission would be intended to take place when the current conflict in the Gulf region has concluded.
“The pre-positioning of Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the Strait, when conditions allow,” a UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson said.
Separately, a defence source added “This move is all about being prepared, should the conditions allow for our coalition to begin its work. The UK and France will continue to lead these efforts, turning diplomatic consensus into military options.”
Pre-positioning a platform is common practice, to help ensure its capabilities are available to contribute immediately to a mission where and when needed.
As a potent front-line warship fitted with state-of-the-art air-defence capability including Sea Viper surface-to-air missiles, a destroyer like Dragon offers a demonstrable contribution to the mission requirements to help secure commercial shipping transits and wider freedom of navigation, providing capacity to deter and defend against missile and drone threats.
Dragon has been on-station in the Eastern Mediterranean since late March, providing presence to secure UK national interests there in case of spillover from the US/Israel versus Iran war in the Gulf, which erupted in late February. With a ceasefire now in place and the protagonists discussing a peace plan, Dragon’s re-deployment reflects the international community’s focus on preparing to secure shipping transits through the Strait as soon as operational conditions allow.
Iran had effectively closed the Strait during the conflict by targeting ships there, with possible mine presence and missile and drone threats persisting.
Since the Strait’s closure, and the resultant strategic-level impact on global supplies of energy and other resources, the international community has been working to put in place a framework and force structure around which to stand up an independent, multinational mission to secure Hormuz shipping. The UK and France have been major players in these conversations.
While Dragon was in the Mediterranean, the UK continued with preparations for prospective further activities. The ship conducted weapons system testing to help ensure readiness of all required operational capabilities. A collection of over 40 international partners, led by the UK and France, also have been developing military plans to provide options when the time came to translate diplomatic discussions on freedom of navigation into practical activities. This process included the UK hosting a mid-April meeting at its Permanent Joint Headquarters. Detailed planning continues. With the need to ensure full, secure opening of Hormuz to commercial traffic when conditions allow, such multinational partnering is underpinned by requirements including common understanding of the strategic context, building shared intelligence and operational pictures, and establishing integrated command-and-control arrangements, all to ensure effective multinational military outputs when needed.
The French Navy has also deployed ships towards the Middle East region, having maintained a strong Eastern Mediterranean presence since the war broke out.
Naval News comment
Dragon’s re-deployment is a natural next step for the UK, having deployed initially to secure national interests in the Eastern Mediterranean and now looking to support wider international interests by contributing to a potential multinational mission requirement to secure a key sea line of communication (SLOC) and a contested maritime choke point. This, and the fact that Dragon was (prior to the Gulf war erupting) preparing for a NATO mission into the North Atlantic, demonstrates the flexibility of naval forces. Any future mission to free up the SLOC through Hormuz will also be a multidomain matter. While escort ships like Dragon can provide air and surface effects, specialist mine-countermeasures (MCM) capability will be required for dealing with possible mine presence. Here, the UK has also been preparing options, fitting out (in Gibraltar) the auxiliary vessel RFA Lyme Bay as an MCM ‘mothership’ carrying uncrewed underwater vehicles to provide mine-hunting capability.
