Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime)

Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime)
HMS Albion (the then Fleet Flagship), RFA Fort Rosalie and HMS Ocean of the RFTG conducting replenishment at sea during Cougar 11
Active2010–present
CountryUnited Kingdom (under the Joint Expeditionary Force if required)
BranchRoyal Navy
RoleExpeditionary
Part ofJoint Expeditionary Force
Commanders
Current
commander		Commander Littoral Strike Group
United Kingdom
His Majesty's
Naval Service
of the British Armed Forces
Components
  • Special Forces
History and future
Ships
Personnel
Auxiliary services

The Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime) (or JEF(M)) (formerly the Response Force Task Group (RFTG), and prior to that the Joint Rapid Reaction Force (JRRF)), is the Royal Navy's contribution to the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) maintained at very high-readiness and available at short notice to respond to unexpected global events.[1] In addition to the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines, the JEF(M) also includes elements of the British Army and the Royal Air Force. While it is primarily poised to conduct war-fighting or strike operations, the JEF(M) is capable of undertaking a diverse range of activities such as evacuation operations, disaster relief or humanitarian aid.[2]

Under the name of RFTG, this high-readiness Maritime Task Group was established under the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, and was initially focused on periodic deployments centered around amphibious shipping, initially termed Cougar deployments,[3] but now named according to the focus of the main activity; although not mandated as an annual activity, these deployments tend to alternate between operating in North West Europe and the Mediterranean Sea,[4] and deploying East of Suez to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. On these deployments, the Task Group regularly conducts exercises with allies and partners.[5] As a Task Group, the RFTG was activated on operations during the 2011 Libyan Civil War, provided humanitarian aid during Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, and elements were activated to deploy to the Caribbean in 2020 under an augmented Atlantic Patrol Task (North) deployment.

  1. ^ The Response Force Task Group (RFTG) – The UK's Very High Readiness Maritime Force, Royal Navy (PDF), Retrieved 3 June 2014
  2. ^ Royal Navy ready for unforeseen global events, gov.uk, 9 May 2011
  3. ^ HMS Bulwark prepares for major deployment, gov.uk, 15 September 2016
  4. ^ "Royal Marines under the wing of Ospreys on joint exercises in the Mediterranean". thecourier.co.uk. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  5. ^ "UK Royal Navy elements conduct amphibious landings training". Naval-technology.com. Retrieved 16 September 2016.