22 September 2019
- RSIS
- Media Highlights
- Drills Show US is Committed to a Sustained Military Presence in Western Pacific
Drills Show US is Committed to a Sustained Military Presence in Western Pacific
The US Navy and Marine Corps have been engaged in a series of training activities and build-up in the Western Pacific region. Earlier in the month, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit staged a series of sequential expeditionary combined-arms operations from the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group ships to shore in the Philippine and East China Seas as well as in the vicinity of Okinawa to show its flexibility in simultaneous multi-island seizures and other operations in a contested littoral environment.
More recently, the US Transportation Command staged the “turbo activation” of 28 logistics ships – from a fleet of 87 vessels spread across the Military Sealift Command, Department of Transportation and the Maritime Administration – in the largest mobilisation activity of its kind since Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, to test the ability to move heavy equipment overseas in times of conflict.
This flurry of activity is a manifestation of long-standing plans and initial training activities that have gradually grown in scope and sophistication.
… Collin Koh is research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, a unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
IDSS / Online
Last updated on 23/09/2019
