Diego Garcia is Proving its Value and is Key to Future Operations
The United Kingdom has come in for a lot of criticism in recent days from the U.S. Administration for its unwillingness to conduct offensive operations alongside the United States and Israel.
In some respects, this scenario is a familiar one; in 1956, Great Britain and France, with Israel, mounted an operation to recapture a waterway vital to global trade - the Suez Canal Zone. Britain had not sought U.S. approval or support beforehand, and was then somewhat surprised not to receive backing after the operation had been launched. This proved to be a fatal blow to the operation.
Circumstances in 2026 are similar, but with a major difference. In this conflict, the United Kingdom is providing passive support, not only by permitting offensive long-range bomber operations to be mounted from RAF bases in England, but also joint force operations from Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory.
A key value of Diego Garcia is that U.S. activities at its Naval Support Facility are largely hidden from public view, thereby enhancing the operational security of Central Command planning. There is no army of plane spotters at the end of the runway reporting every takeoff, no civilian population posting on social media, and one hopes that satellite imagery of Diego Garcia taken on March 28 does not reveal anything of intelligence value.
Diego Garcia imaged on March 28 (Sentinel-2/CJRC)
CENTCOM has, however, released pictures of U.S. Marines conducting beach reconnaissance operations on Diego Garcia, suggesting that the America Class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA-7) with accompanying vessels has brought the 31st MEU ashore. CENTCOM confirmed that the vessel with the Amphibious Ready Group, with about 3,500 sailors and marines, had reached its area on March 27. Diego Garcia is probably the closest non-contentious landfall from which operations can be mounted, given that the formal diplomatic position of the Gulf States is that they are engaged solely in defensive operations, and are not providing facilities from which offensive operations can be mounted.
Another key indicator of future U.S. intentions will be the position of vessels from the Maritime Pre-positioning Ship Squadron 2 (MPSRON-2). Historically, heavy equipment to flesh out a Marine brigade and also a U.S. Army armored brigade has been held on board ships of MPSRON-2 stationed in the Diego Garcia lagoon, the concept being that lightly-armed soldiers flown into the theater are married up with heavy equipment sailed forward and brought ashore by ships of MPSRON-2. This deployment concept is tested regularly in the Gulf region in the Native Fury series of exercises. Exercise Native Fury in March 2020 saw 4,000 marines from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, home-based in San Diego, marry up with their heavy equipment brought ashore in Fujairah by MPSRON-2. Exercise Native Fury in May 2024 practiced a similar concept, but with equipment brought ashore in Red Sea ports and convoyed across Saudi Arabia, for which a logistics network had been prepared.
that matters most
Get the latest maritime news delivered to your inbox daily.
Since the last Native Fury exercise, the deployment concept has developed. But the position of the ships of MPSRON-2, normally at anchor in the Diego Garcia lagoon, is a key indicator of intentions. When The Maritime Executive had access to high-resolution imagery of Diego Garcia in February, at least one Watson Class RO/RO ship belonging to MPSRON-2 was visible in the lagoon. As one might expect, recent imagery of Diego Garcia shows more ships in the lagoon and aircraft on the South Pan than is normal.
Meanwhile, the party of Chagossian islanders led by ex-British soldier Misley Mandarin, who are encamped on the normally uninhabited Île du Coin,120 miles north of Diego Garcia, are proving to have some utility, acting de facto as Coastwatchers in case of incursions into the Chagos Archipelago.
Content Original Link:
" target="_blank">
