CONFIDENTIAL
HKB 062/2
Pa
Assistants in all geographical departments (except NAD)
ROYAL NAVY TASK GROUP DEPLOYMENT 1992
1.
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ORIENT 1992
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232
The MOD have asked for FCO views on countries/exercises for inclusion in their out of NATO area deployment in 1992. It is currently considered that the deployment will be from May to December 1992, and that the regions on which it will concentrate will be the Middle and Far East. At this stage, it is likely that the Task Group will comprise an aircraft carrier, three destroyer or frigate escorts and afloat support. As well as making port visits, opportunities will be taken to participate in bilateral and multilateral exercises. The Group will deploy and return through the Suez Canal, with visits to Gulf states most likely to occur on the return leg.
2.
You will appreciate that considerable planning is required for such a deployment, and MOD therefore wish to have the basis of a final itinerary together with reasonable assurances that they will not encounter difficulties in any of the countries to be visited in mid to late 1992. For the present as many options as possible are being kept open, although the MOD have suggested the attached list of countries and exercises.
3.
Grateful, therefore, for additions/deletions to or from the MOD list by cop 6/9/91. It would be helpful if you could also indicate (a) preferred composition of visiting Group, in particular whether inclusion of the carrier would be appropriate, (b) preferred timing, or dates to be avoided in 1992, (c) defence sales potential.
4. (For SPD only.) The MOD have added a special note to their call for suggestions concerning Australia. Its omission from the current list of ports to be visited is principally on the grounds that even with ships in the Far East, a detour to an Australian port would be prohibitive both in terms of the time it would take and the additional fuel consumption it would involve: this would apparently have serious implications for other visits in the programme. The MOD have therefore suggested that there is a possibility of the second Armilla ship visiting Australia next year for the sesquicentenary. This is the MOD's preferred option, although they would be grateful for comments on whether its omission from the programme would cause significant difficulty.
Richard C. Monis
R C Morris
Non-Proliferation and Defence Dept
21 August 1991
CONFIDENTIAL