HMS Prince of Wales will be departing from Portsmouth at noon tomorrow for another round of F-35 trials.

The warship will deploy for ‘WESTLANT22’, unsurprisingly in the West Atlantic, in order to train alongside American forces to continue F-35 trials, following in the steps of her older sister.

The vessel will also visit New York to host the Atlantic Future Forum towards the end of September.

The aim of Westlant, say the Royal Navy, is to push both the F-35 and the carrier to their limits.

“Having gathered the data and experiences required to ‘write the manual’ for safely operating the F-35, the focus of Westlant now shifts to developing combat techniques for exploiting the fighter’s awesome capabilities in action and working as part of a carrier task group”, adding that “Westlant is an excellent opportunity to strengthen ties with one of our most important allies: the United States. Westlant allows the Royal Navy to bring together the aircraft with a whole carrier task group to deliver a truly potent force.”

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