It’s not often that two American aircraft carrier strike groups operate together in the Pacific. But the images released by the US Navy show the aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson and USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrying out joint maneuvers with the JS Ise helicopter destroyer the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Philippine Sea.
“The purpose of this training is to improve tactical skills and interoperability with the U.S. Navy,” Rear Adm. Hitoshi Shimuzu said in a Japanese Navy statement. “Our relationship is committed to peace and stability in the region.” The exercise included “air defense exercises, maritime surveillance, cross-deck exercises and tactical maneuvers to develop a unique high-level combat capability,” the U.S. Seventh Fleet said in an explanation.
The US Naval Institute news channel announced that the US also used it Amphibious assault ship USS America, which can function as a light aircraft carrier. Also the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan It remains in its homeport of Yokosuka, Japan, bringing the total number of U.S. aircraft to four.
The exercise comes as tensions continue to rise over territorial disputes in the region. Japanese media reported on Monday that China has strategically permanently stationed four warships in the waters around Taiwan, the island that Beijing claims as part of its territory.
Last week, that Destroyer USS John Finn sailed through the Taiwan Strait this year in the U.S. Navy’s first transit of the waterway. A spokesman for China’s People’s Liberation Army criticized the United States for “provocative actions” that had “maliciously undermined peace and stability in the region.”