It is a team sport – and the team is about to get even bigger, as Germany has ordered eight of its own P-8 aircraft. For this flight, Healey has been joined by his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius.
German military personnel have already been training alongside their UK colleagues and for part of this mission there’s a German navy pilot in the cockpit.
Germany plans to frequently fly its own maritime patrols from RAF Lossiemouth – Pistorius tells me why.
“The North Atlantic is crucial, and it’s threatened by Russian nuclear submarines,” he says. “Therefore, we need to know what’s going on here in the deep sea.”
The German defence minister’s presence underlines the deepening defence relationship with the UK. There’s much closer co-operation following the signing of the Trinity House Agreement on defence last year.
Germany is already investing in the UK to build new tanks and armoured vehicles for the British Army. On this visit, Pistorius announced that Germany would be buying UK-made Sting Ray torpedoes for its P-8 aircraft. The two countries are also promising to work together on cyber-security.
Pistorius and Healey have already been leading Europe’s efforts to supply weapons to Ukraine. Now they’re turning their attention closer to home.
Pistorius says every day there is evidence of Russia’s hybrid warfare – “fake news, disinformation, hybrid attacks, the threat to undersea infrastructure”.
He says: “It’s time to get more aware of what’s going on.”
