【By Observer News, Shanmao】According to the US Naval Institute News (USNI News) on the 18th, the "Nimitz" aircraft carrier strike group gathered with the Philippine Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels in the South China Sea last weekend, attempting to conduct some kind of "military display".

The "Nimitz" aircraft carrier, strike group ships, and Philippine Navy frigates during the exercise

This is the largest multilateral maritime activity by Western allies in the South China Sea in recent years (original statement), and the open-source intelligence account MT Anderson on social media X (formerly "Twitter") also found that a C-2 "Greyhound" carrier-based transport aircraft belonging to the "Nimitz" was flying within 200 nautical miles of the Nansha Islands based on publicly available ADS-B information. This is also a common practice used by the outside world to speculate on the movements of the aircraft carrier fleet.

The two-day "joint patrol and exercise" activity took place on Friday and Saturday (November 14, 15), involving a total of nine ships. In addition to the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN-68 "Nimitz", the "Arlington" class missile destroyers DDG-101 "Gridley", DDG-108 "Wayne M. Meyer", and DDG-123 "Higbee" forming the aircraft carrier strike group, it also included the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's "Murasa" class general-purpose destroyer DD-108 "Akatsuki", the Philippine Navy's frigates FF-150 "Jose Rizal" and FF-151 "Antonio Luna", the Philippine Coast Guard patrol ship MRRV-9702 "Melchora Aquino" and MRRV-4408 "Cape St. Augustine".

The participating ships as seen from the deck of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's "Akatsuki" ship. Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force

According to a statement from the Philippine military, these ships conducted exercises such as "maritime situational awareness" and "anti-submarine warfare" during the exercise, demonstrating the so-called "strengthening of deterrence and improving interoperability with partner countries." Pentagon officials stated that the exercise demonstrated the U.S. commitment to supporting the so-called "free and open Indo-Pacific region." The report mentioned that this was a follow-up action to the so-called "rebuilding of deterrence in the South China Sea" pledged by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting. He also announced the establishment of a new task force to enhance military cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, trying to counter China's actions in defending its rights. In August this year, the U.S. Navy also conducted a so-called "freedom of navigation" activity near the Scarborough Shoal.

This is the second time this year that an American aircraft carrier has conducted joint exercises with the Philippine military. The first one was carried out by the CVN-70 "Carl Vinson" aircraft carrier strike group in January this year. In addition, the French Navy's "Charles de Gaulle" aircraft carrier battle group, which was carrying out the "Clemenceau-25" mission in the so-called "Indo-Pacific region," also conducted bilateral joint exercises with the Philippines in February this year and visited Subic Bay.

As the oldest active aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy, CVN-68 "Nimitz" is currently on its final deployment before retirement. On March 21 this year, the "Nimitz" set sail from the Bremerton base in Washington state, and arrived in the western Pacific in late April. Until mid-June, the "Nimitz" strike group has been active in the so-called "Indo-Pacific region" and has repeatedly traveled between the South China Sea and the Andaman Sea. From June 16 to 17, the strike group passed through the Strait of Malacca to support U.S. forces in the Central Command area. On October 16, after completing the Middle East mission, the "Nimitz" again passed through the Strait of Malacca into the South China Sea. On October 26, a MH-60 "Sea Hawk" helicopter and an F/A-18F "Super Hornet" carrier-based fighter jet from the "Nimitz" fell into the sea successively. According to the diagram published by the "Maritime and Fleet Tracking" section of the USNI News website, the "Nimitz" strike group was still in the eastern South China Sea near the northwest of Balabac Island on the 17th of this month. This round of activities in the South China Sea has exceeded one month. And since the departure from the mainland, the "Nimitz" deployment has reached 243 days, which is an "extra-long deployment" exceeding eight months.

This article is an exclusive work of Observer News. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7574371342989738523/

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