May 9th, 2026
Sources: AFP, USNI News
The UK plans to send the destroyer HMS Dragon to the Middle East ahead of any international mission to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the British defense ministry said. Meanwhile, France announced that its Carrier Strike Group transited the Suez Canal on Wednesday en route to the Red Sea.
A ministry spokesperson told AFP that the move is part of “prudent planning” designed to ensure Britain is ready, alongside a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the strait “when conditions allow.” The MoD said deploying HMS Dragon would strengthen confidence among commercial shipping and support mine clearance efforts once hostilities end.
Britain and France said last month that their military plans to secure the Strait of Hormuz were coming together and would succeed in restoring trade flows through the vital passage.
They also said that the coalition would be distinct from the warring parties, focusing on protecting navigation and helping reopen the strait once a sustainable ceasefire makes it possible to do so. The defense ministry added that pre-positioning a British naval asset would contribute to that readiness and continuity of effort, while mine clearance becomes relevant after fighting eases.
The pre-positioning decision follows earlier planning for a multinational approach. At a two-day meeting in London in April involving more than 44 countries, military planners discussed practicalities for the UK- and France-led mission to protect navigation in the key waterway. Some 40 countries were understood to have agreed to participate in the broader plans aimed at freeing up navigation through Hormuz.
France has been making similar statements about its own role in the coalition effort. France announced that its Carrier Strike Group—centered on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle—transited the Suez Canal on Wednesday en route to the Red Sea as part of a multinational naval coalition intended to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the multinational mission France and the United Kingdom have set up could help restore confidence among shipowners and insurers, and that the initiative would be distinct from the warring parties. He said the pre-positioning of the carrier Charles de Gaulle fits within that context.
French descriptions of the carrier group indicate it includes the Charles de Gaulle flagship alongside frigate FS Chevalier Paul, one or two FREMM-class frigates, a fleet oiler, and possibly a nuclear-powered attack submarine. France also said the Suez Canal transit was intended to shorten the implementation timeline of the France–UK initiative.
A French Ministry of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs release said the deployment would allow for assessment of the regional operational environment ahead of the initiative’s launch, additional crisis “exit options” to strengthen regional security, the capacity to integrate resources of countries wishing to act within a defensive and legally appropriate framework respectful of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and support for reassuring maritime trade actors.
France has also described naval commitments already underway in surrounding areas. French Navy ships including two FREMM-class frigates have been operating in the Red Sea, according to French Armed Forces updates.
In the Arabian Sea, the update said the frigates were continuing their deployment to contribute to autonomous assessment of the situation regionally, demonstrating France’s ability to deploy modular systems in a volatile environment while maintaining what it called a strictly defensive posture. France said the frigates operate as part of the European Union’s Naval Force, EUNAVFOR Operation Aspides, a mission that began in February 2024 to prevent attacks on merchant shipping by the Houthis.
France typically rotates a single ship into the task force, but the country said it increased the number to two in March after Macron pledged to send eight frigates and two amphibious ships to the Mediterranean and Red Sea amid heightened conflict in the region.
The French Carrier Strike Group has also operated in other theaters. France said the carrier group recently operated in the Mediterranean alongside Italian frigate ITS Alpino, Spanish frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez, and Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HNLMS Evertsen. The Netherlands said Evertsen joined the French group at the start of February as part of the carrier strike group’s planned deployment to the High North and participation in NATO’s exercise Cold Response, before the exercise was cancelled as France retasked the carrier group to the Mediterranean in response to the Middle East war. France asked that Evertsen remain with the carrier group in the Mediterranean, and the Netherlands agreed to keep the frigate deployed until early April.
As the timeframe shifted, the Netherlands Ministry of Defense informed parliament that the Evertsen deployment extension would run until early May. The Netherlands letter to Parliament cited a one-month extension costing 5 million euros, not including munitions expenditure, for a total deployment cost of 7.5 million euros. The Dutch ship is now reportedly heading home, according to a Netherlands Ministry of Defense weekly overview issued Wednesday. It was unclear whether the Italian frigates also followed the French carrier group to the Red Sea. Italy has said it supports the France–UK coalition, and its plans involve a four-ship task force including two minesweepers, an escorting warship, and a logistics support vessel, operating alongside minesweepers from other countries.
Spain’s position has differed from the coalition approach. Spain, according to the material provided, has not signed on to military operations in the Middle East region, but its navy is serving as the host for the Meeting of Chiefs of European Navies 2026 (CHENS 2026), running Wednesday and Thursday. A Spanish Navy release said the meeting will analyze key regions from the Baltic to the Indo-Pacific, including the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Red Sea, where recent incidents have highlighted the vulnerability of maritime routes and their global impact. The meeting is attended by 35 navy chiefs and representatives from allied navies and organizations.
The French carrier group and attached frigates, including Italian, Spanish, and Netherlands forces, also participated in NATO-linked activity earlier. Last week, the coalition’s ships joined the second iteration of enhanced Vigilance Activity, eVA Neptune Strike 26, originally planned with participation by a U.S. carrier strike group but without it due to ongoing conflict.
A NATO release said Neptune Strike 26 included participation from forces from Albania, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Turkey, and the UK. NATO said the activity was supported by alliance RQ-4D unmanned aerial vehicles from NATO’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Force, and that NATO strike group tactical air assets conducted missions from the Mediterranean Sea across parts of continental Europe and into the Black Sea region. Rear Admiral Thibault de Possesse, commander of the French carrier strike group, said in a NATO release that operating from the flight deck of Charles de Gaulle, the group executed maritime strikes and air patrols to reinforce the alliance’s defensive capabilities and provide reassurance to partner nations in the area.
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