Article Posted on : - Jul 13, 2010

HMS Liverpool (foreground) and HMS Ark Royal taking part in a US-led multinational Composite Training Unit Exercise. Photo: LA(Phot) Gregg Macready, UK MoD.

LONDON (BNS): The UK's Amphibious Task Group has joined up with the Carrier Task Group in the North Atlantic for a US-led multinational Composite Training Unit Exercise.

HMS Ark Royal and her Task Group, which consists of HMS Liverpool, HMS Sutherland, USS Barry and RFA Fort George, have been joined by units from the Amphibious Task Group - HMS Ocean, HMS Albion with 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines embarked, and RFA Largs Bay - to take part in USS Kearsarge's Composite Training Unit Exercise (C2X) with 1 (Fighter) Squadron of Joint Force Harrier, according to a UK MoD news report.

Both the task groups will be involved in this maritime exercise against symmetrical and asymmetrical threats.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to develop and hone relevant, available maritime skills and capabilities that encapsulates air, sea and land operations," Commander Simon Ward, Chief of Staff for the Carrier Strike Group, was quoted as saying in the report.

The Royal Navy's fleet flagship HMS Ark Royal continues as the Task Group command and control carrier strike platform for the UK-led multinational Auriga deployment, commanded by Commodore Simon Ancona.

The C2X has been developed for the multinational task groups by the United States Navy's Carrier Strike Force Training (Atlantic) and has taken a year of joint planning with the UK's Carrier Strike Group.