Washington is refocusing on bigger threats and competitors, and that means China.
The U.S. Navy is relocating massive maritime power from the Middle East to the Pacific theater as part of a force repositioning and, as the Pentagon put it, sustain a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is moving from Central Command’s area to the Pacific. This means that there is now no U.S. carrier in the Middle East, and power projection of international strategic waterways is being maintained if not increased in the Pacific.
Pentagon Press Secretary Adm. John Kirby said “Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III believes America has ‘a robust presence in the Middle East.’ U.S. service members are based in many nations in the Persian Gulf and there is more than enough airpower to counter any adversary,” according to a Pentagon report.
The US
aircraft carrier will be departing the Central Command ensuring our national security and deterring conflict in a very critical region of the world , Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said.
The Biden administration has pulled the carrier from the Gulf in a sign of potentially easing tensions with
Iran. These decisions are carefully weighed, the Pentagon spokesman said, adding, Supporting Strike Group is a decision driven by a frank assessment of the threats in the area, and also a frank consideration of the capabilities themselves. The secretary (Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III) was mindful of the larger geostrategic picture when he approved the movement of the carrier strike group from the Central Command area of responsibility to the
We want to thank all the men and women aboard the ships in that strike crew and the squadrons who supported Central Command now for more than 270 days, ensuring our national security and deterring conflict in a very critical region of the world, Kirby said.
The carrier is homeported in Bremerton, Washington. It is now in the 7th Fleet area of responsibility and can be called upon for operations, training or humanitarian exercises there.
The Nimitz s departure means there is no U.S. carrier operating in the Central Command area of operations. Kirby said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III believes America has a robust presence in the Middle East. U.S. service members are based in many nations in the Persian Gulf and there is more than enough airpower to counter any adversary.
The USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is moving into the U.S. Indo-Pacific region after 270 days in the Central Command area of responsibility, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has pulled an aircraft carrier out of the Gulf in a move to potentially ease tensions with Iran, which had soared under former President Donald Trump.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group had sailed from the US military’s Central Command in the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific Command region.
Kirby did not confirm reports the Nimitz was headed back to the United States after some nine months at sea.
But he indicated that, after the Trump administration ramped up the US military presence in the Gulf, the Biden administration did not see keeping the carrier there as necessary for US security needs.