Commodore Andrew Ainsley assumed his current role as Deputy Commander United Kingdom Strike Force in May 2025 and is charged with maintaining a deployable very high readiness Maritime HQ in support of national and NATO requirements. He is a graduate of the Higher Command and Staff Course. Joining the Royal Navy in 1997, he spent his sea-going career as a surface warfare officer including five Sea Command appointments most notably of the frigate HMS ARGYLL (2019-2021). He was Deputy Commander & Chief of Staff to the UK Amphibious Task Group (2017-2018) and the UK Carrier Strike Group (2022-23). His frontline experience was re-invested as the Surface Flotilla Chief of Staff (2016-18) and within the Royal Navy’s Force Generation Directorate as Chief of Staff of the Plans Division (2021-22). He served in the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters as the lead for ROE and C2 (2012-14) and as Deputy Head of Global Current Operations (2023-24) with responsibility for the Euro-Atlantic & Arctic, NATO, and Ukraine, and deployed to Afghanistan with Task Force Helmand (2012-13).