Coinciding with spring patrol in the Indo-Pacific region, the US Navy super carriers both the Ronald Reagan and Nimitz will be in the Philippine Sea at the doorstep to the South China Sea. They will hold dual-carrier exercises that will draw the ire of Beijing, whose own PLAN has been mysteriously become less visible, reported Stars and Stripes.
Both carriers have been active in the second week of US Navy paired aircraft carrier strike groups in the Philippine Sea to train for active combat if hostilities erupt with China.
The massed firepower of two supercarriers CSGs is the most potent example of naval firepower anywhere in the Indo-Pacific.
A combination of the two carrier strike groups on Sunday was a lethal example of integrated exercises with operations. These U.S. defense commitments in the Indo-Pacific and blunting a Chinese offensive is the objective. The US Navy issued its commitment to support allies in the region and to punctuate what it means with the two carriers in formation and aircraft sent of them.
On June 21, the USS Nimitz and Theodore Roosevelt also dual-carrier ops that conducted flight drills.
Another carrier the USS Roosevelt sailed from Guam after an outbreak it had. The lone aircraft carrier and its carrier strike groups conduct FONOPs and the presence of operations in the western Pacific. Each time a Carrier group touches the SCS, China accuses the US of meddling but the US ignores it.
The US Navy has already sent 3 carrier strike groups that have been in operation in seas close to China. American naval power is always welcomed by anyone in the region, except Beijing called it interference so it cannot do as it pleases in the South China Sea, confirmed Business Insider.
Also read: US Navy Deploys Reagan, Nimitz Carrier Strike Group for Operations
According to the Reagan Strike Group Commander Rear Adm. George Wikoff, he said that all chances to improve training and capacity to rule any theatre of combat. To be the best, all-theatre warfighting unit need to dominate and win against the US Navy which is ready to fight and go anywhere to fight for America, mentioned Navy mil.
The 7th Fleet spokesman Lt. Joe Keiley, commented that dual-carrier drills are few. It happened in 2001, and this is the seventh two carrier exercises last Sunday.
It took quite a while for back-to-back dual-carrier operations to ever happen till now, but way back in 2017 both the Reagan and Nimitz trained east of Korea.
In November of 2018, the Ronald Reagan and USS John C. Stennis met in the Philippine Sea. The June 21 exercises were the latest dual-carrier training in the Western Pacific too.
Wickoff stressed that the dual-carrier operation is proof of the trust that the US supports its allies. Sending a fighting force fast in the Indo-pacific, and ready to face off all adversaries that cause instability.
Many US aircraft carriers were sidelined by outbreaks, but the USS America, an amphibious assault ship that was docked in Japan. Took over with the F-35B VTOL stealth fighters on it, and kept the Chinese navy at bay, cited in Task and Purpose.
The USS Roosevelt was in the region during February, but an outbreak caused it to dock for sixty days or more. Till it was sent with the two other carriers recently. Both the Reagan and Nimitz were quarantined till deployment. But, it Beijing who is watching and feeling the threat, these forces are to them, now all are in action.
Nimitz Strike Group Commander Rear. Adm. James Kirk, stated that it is the US Navy that can assemble the USS Ronald Reagan and Nimitz in exercised to increase effectiveness.
Relate article: Three US Navy Aircraft Carriers Seen Patrolling Indo-Pacific Amidst Tensions in Three Years as a Pushback Aimed at Beijing
