Two US aircraft carrier groups have started operations in the Philippine Sea, in what the Philippine government said was a demonstration of Washington\u2019s \u201cironclad commitment\u201d as the world awaits a ruling by a United Nations tribunal on Manila\u2019s petition to invalidate China\u2019s so-called nine-dash line in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a show of how invested they are to the cause of peace, freedom and stability in our region and how resolute they are in their ironclad commitment to the Philippines,\u201d Defense spokesperson Peter Paul Galvez told the Inquirer by phone.<\/p>\n
The Nimitz-class super carriers USS Ronald Reagan\u00a0 and the USS John C. Stennis\u00a0 strike groups commenced \u201cdual carrier flight operations\u201d in the Philippine Sea last month, although Galvez clarified they were not within the country\u2019s territorial waters.<\/p>\n
The US Pacific Command statement was accompanied by stunning photos of the two US Navy aircraft carriers and its Great Green Fleet, an initiative to use alternative fuel for its military ships that was launched earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The Stennis and the Great Green Fleet had just come from a trilateral exercise called Malabar, which included the US and Indian navies, along with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), before it linked up with the USS Ronald Reagan in the West Philippine Sea.<\/p>\n
The Ronald Reagan is the US Navy\u2019s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier.<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n Multiple strike group<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe ships and aircraft assigned to both strike groups began coordinated operations in international waters demonstrating the United States\u2019 unique capability to operate multiple carrier strike groups in close proximity,\u201d the US Pacific Command said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile at sea, the strike groups conducted air defense drills, sea surveillance, replenishments at sea, defensive air combat training, long range strikes, coordinated manoeuvres and other exercises,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n The apparent show of force comes as The Hague-based UN arbitral tribunal is expected to hand down its verdict soon, a ruling largely expected to favor the Philippines.<\/p>\n Rear Adm. Marcus Hitchcock, commander of CSG 3, added that \u201cno other Navy can concentrate this much combat power on one sea or synchronize the activities of over 12,000 sailors, 140 aircraft, six combatants and two carriers.\u201d \u201cIt is truly impressive, and it is an important operational capability,\u201d Hitchcock added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two US aircraft carrier groups have started operations in the Philippine Sea, in what the Philippine government said was a demonstration of Washington\u2019s \u201cironclad commitment\u201d as the world awaits a ruling by a United Nations tribunal on Manila\u2019s petition to invalidate China\u2019s so-called nine-dash line in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,70],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}