The USS Eisenhower carrier strike group has arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, joining the USS Ford already stationed there. The Eisenhower and the Ford strike groups completed a three-day joint exercise yesterday, “a show of strength that coincides with high-level diplomacy aimed at preventing a wider war in the Middle East,” reported Stars & Stripes. The 6th Fleet command ship USS Mount Whitney and the Italian navy frigates ITS Virginio Fasan and ITS Carlo Margottini also joined the drills, the U.S. Navy said. In recent days, Star & Stripes reports further, open-source intelligence analysts have noted about 48 U.S. and allied ships, including those from Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, operating in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.
Aircraft activity is also on the rise. The Flightradar24 flight tracking website showed a U.S. RC-135 signals intelligence aircraft flying back and forth off the coast of Israel and Lebanon yesterday. Flight data also shows that some kind of air bridge of C-17s is in operation, with up to seven or eight C-17 cargo aircraft at any given time flying across Europe in a southeast-northwest track.
