Ocean Wave 97 (Hansard, 24 February 1997)

§ Mr. Soames

The Royal Navy's Ocean Wave 97 deployment got underway on 13 January. Ships have already made visits to ports in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Israel, and to Gibraltar and Djibouti. Diplomatic clearances have been granted by host authorities for visits to Turkey, India, the Maldives, Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia, South Korea, New Zealand, Malta and Corfu. On current plans two ships will detach temporarily from the task group to be in Hong Kong in June when the territory is handed back to China. The full Ocean Wave 97 programme has still to be finalised, and is subject to change, but we hope that in addition during the seven-month deployment, ships from the task group will be able to visit ports in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, Russian, the Philippines, Australia, and South Africa.

Ocean Wave 97 demonstrates the UK's continued commitment to the Asia-Pacific region after the handover of Hong Kong. It underlines our interest in promoting regional peace and stability, protecting the freedom of international trade, and supporting co-operation and joint working between military forces in the Asia-Pacific region.

The activities and exercises conducted during major Royal Navy deployments such as Ocean Wave, which take place every three to four years, are an important contributor to building up the operational capability which the Commander in Chief Fleet is tasked to deliver. Participating units benefit from the opportunity to train and develop the seamanship and warfare operational skills and tactics of an integrated force. Such interactive training is achievable only when a number of diverse assets are deployed together over a prolonged period. Ocean Wave will also develop the Royal Navy's interoperability with other nations. The task group has already participated in exercises involving the French, Spanish, Dutch and Egyptian navies, and a number of other exercises are planned for later in the deployment. Two of the largest of these will be Exercise Setia Kawan with the Royal Brunei armed forces; and Exercise Flying Fish with our five power defence arrangements—FPDA—partners, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore, which will be the first ever joint air-maritime FPDA exercise.

103W

The costs of such major deployments are taken into account in cyclical programming. The ships, aircraft, and personnel involved in Ocean Wave would be fully engaged in other activities anyway, and the directly attributable extra costs of the deployment are thus estimated at about £5.5 million. The main elements of this are port and harbour dues, Suez canal transit fees, operational support, additional fuel, and some air travel.

As is usual a deployment of this type, the Royal Navy is pleased to be able to help in the promotion of the UK's wider interests. To this end it will be participating in a number of Defence industry days. UK companies which will participate in Defence industry days, and defence exhibitions associated with Ocean Wave 97, include the following:

AGI Aeronautical and General Instruments, UK
Aircraft Materials
Arran Fire and Safety
Avon Inflatables Ltd.
Avon Polymer Products
Babcock Rosyth Defence Ltd.
BAe Dynamics
BAe SEMA, UK
BAe Systems and Equipment
Barr and Stroud Ltd.
Basys Marine
BNEA
British Aerospace Defence Ltd.
Brown Brothers,
SG Brown
Caley Ocean Systems
Chelsea Instruments
Chernikeef Logs
Clarke Chapman Marine
Cogent Defence Systems
Colebrand
DERA
Divex
DML
Du Pont (UK) Ltd.
EDS Ltd.
Fairey Hydraulics
Ferranti Technologies Ltd.
Flagship Training Ltd.
Francis Searchlights (1990) Ltd.
J&S Franklin Ltd.
FR Aviation
Gearing and Watson
GEC Alsthom-Paxman Diesels Ltd.
GEC Marconi Avionics Ltd.
GEC Marconi Materials Technology
GEC Marconi Projects
GEC Marconi Radar and Defence Systems
GEC Marconi S31
GEC Marconi Underwater Weapons
GEC Marine
GKN Westland Helicopters
Graseby
Hale Hamilton Valves
Howden Airdynamics Group Ltd.
HydroMarine
Hunting Engineering
Irvin Aerospace
Island Plastics Industries Ltd.
Jane's
JJB Consultancy
KaMeWa UK
Kelvin Hughes Ltd.
T. W. Kempton (Corporate Clothing) Ltd.
Kidde Fire Protection
Leyland Trucks
Mara Engineering
Marine Acoustics
Marine Data
Maritime Defence
Matra Marconi Space
Meggitt Avionics
Mitchell Bearings
ML Holdings
MSI Defence
Neptune Sonar
Park Air Electronics
Pain Wessex
Pearson Engineering Ltd.
Permali Gloucester
Pilatus Britten Norman
Pilkington PE Ltd.
Pilkington Thorn Optronics
Polaris International
Power Magnetics
Pyser-SGI Ltd.
Racal Acoustics
Racal Thorn
Redifon MEL/SPT
Remploy Textile Group
Rolls Royce Anstey
Rolls Royce Bristol
Rolls Royce Specialist Engines
Royal Military College of Science
RTK Marine
Shorts Missile Systems Ltd.
Siemens Plessey
Simrad Optronics Ltd.
Slingsby Aviation
Slingsby Engineering
Strachan and Henshaw
Tebbutt and Hall Ltd.
Thompson Valves
Thomson Marconi Sonar Ltd.
Thomson-Thorn Missile Electronics
Thorn Automation
W. and J. Tod
UK Safety Group Ltd.
Ultra Electronics, Command and Control
Ultra Electronics, Electrics Division
Ultra Electronics, Ocean Systems
Ultra Electronics, Sonar and Communications
UK Hydrographic Office
Varivane
Vickers PLC
Vickers Propulsion Technology UK
Vosper Thornycroft (UK) Ltd.
Worcester Controls
Yarrows Shipbuilders

This list is subject to change as some of the events are still some way off. Companies participating in defence industry events on-board RN ships make a contribution towards the cost.

In addition to these defence-related companies, a number of other UK non-defence-related companies will be mounting commercial events in various locations, to coincide with Ocean Wave ship visits.