Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder issued a statement Nov. 1 announcing that the U.S. military would be beefing up its air forces in the Southwest Asia region as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln strike group prepares to leave the region at some unspecified date in the near future. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Ryder reported, has ordered the deployment of additional guided missile destroyers, a fighter squadron and tanker aircraft, as well as several B-52 bombers to the region. They will join other U.S. military forces in the region, among them the THAAD anti-missile battery in Israel and a 3-ship Amphibious Ready Group in the eastern Mediterranean Sea carrying 2,000 Marines. “Secretary Austin continues to make clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every measure necessary to defend our people,” the statement concluded.
Unnamed U.S. officials told AP that the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and the three Navy destroyers in its strike group are scheduled to leave the Middle East by mid-month and return to their home port in San Diego. When it departs, there will be no aircraft carrier in the Middle East for a period of time, officials said. They declined to say how long that gap would last. To make up for that gap, Austin is ordering the deployment of other Navy destroyers to the region. Those destroyers, which are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles (and also of carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles), would come either from the Indo-Pacific region or Europe, the official said. Eventually, it is expected that the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and its three warships will move to the Mediterranean Sea, but they won’t get there before the Lincoln departs. The Truman strike group has been in the North Sea, participating in a NATO military exercise.
