China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy Shandong Carrier Strike Group conducted 240 fighter aircraft launches and recoveries and 140 helicopter take-offs and landings over the course of a week operating in the Philippine Sea, according to a Tuesday news release from Japan’s Joint Staff Office (JSO).
The CSG is still deployed in the area. On Tuesday, the JSO issued a release covering the daily location and composition of the Shandong CSG from July 9 to Monday. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers JS Akebono (DD-108) and JS Kirishima (DDG-174), and destroyer escort JS Jintsu (DE-230) shadowed the PLAN CSG, according to the JSO. The JMSDF ships likely deployed on a rotational basis to shadow the PLAN CSG rather than all three ships shadowing the CSG at the same time.
Tuesday’s release includes the day of the initial sighting of the Shandong CSG on July 9. Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighter aircraft scrambled in response to the carrier’s fighter launches.
The positions given by the release are by distance relative to Miyako Island in southwest Japan and include a map showing the Shandong’s CSG’s position each day. So far, the CSG has been operating largely in the same area east of the Luzon Strait between Taiwan and the Philippines’ main island of Luzon. This is a departure from last year’s late October to November deployment in the Philippine Sea, where the CSG also operated midway between the Philippines and Guam.
Details from the release are as follows:
July 9
Position: 335 miles southeast of Miyako Island
Carrier: CNS Shandong (17)
Cruiser: CNS Yan’an (106)
Destroyer: CNS Guilin (164)
Frigate: CNS Yuncheng (571)
July 10
Position: 267 miles southeast of Miyako IslandCarrier: Shandong
Cruiser: Yan’an
Destroyer: Guilin
Frigate: Yuncheng
Fast Combat Support Ship: CNS Chaganhu (905)
July 11
Position: 329 miles south of Miyako Island
Carrier: Shandong
Cruiser: Yan’an
Destroyer: Guilin
Frigate: Yuncheng
Fast Combat Support Ship: Chaganhu
July 12
Position: 248 miles southeast of Miyako Island
Carrier: Shandong
Cruisers: Yan’an and CNS Xianyang (108)
Destroyers: Guilin and CNS Zhanjiang (165)
Frigate: Yuncheng
Fast Combat Support Ship: Chaganhu
July 13
Position: 242 miles south of Miyako Island
Carrier: Shandong
Cruisers: Yan’an and Xianyang
Destroyers: Guilin and Zhanjiang
Frigate: Yuncheng
Fast Combat Support Ship: Chaganhu
July 14
Position: 273 miles southeast of Miyako Island
Carrier: Shandong
Cruiser: Yan’an
Destroyers: Guilin and Zhanjiang
July 15
Position: 267 miles south of Miyako Island
Carrier: Shandong
Cruisers: Yan’an and Xianyang
Destroyers: Guilin and Zhanjiang
Frigate: Yuncheng
Fast Combat Support Ship: Chaganhu
The Shandong CSG’s current deployment to the Philippine Sea is the first one it has conducted this year. Last year, the CSG deployed to the area three times, including a 19-day deployment in April, followed by a five-day deployment in September and a 12-day deployment from late October to early November.
Meanwhile, Italian Navy carrier ITS Cavour (550) is in Darwin, Australia with its air group participating in the Royal Australian Air Force’s multinational Pitch Black 2024 exercise, marking the first time a naval unit is participating in the biennial exercise. The exercise is taking place from July 12 through Aug. 2 in Northern Australia.
Cavour’s participation is a historic first and represents a significant milestone for Italy’s naval operations in the Indo-Pacific region, the Australian Department of Defense said in a news release.
“This is the first time that Italy has joined Exercise Pitch Black and the first time an aircraft carrier has participated,” Capt. Milos Argenton, Cavour’s commanding officer, said in the release. “The Cavour has travelled across the Atlantic and around Africa, but this is the first time it has travelled into the Indo-Pacific region.”
The Pitch Black exercise is a milestone for the CSG, as it recently declared initial operating capability for the F-35B Lightning II fighter, Italian CSG commander Rear Adm. Giancarlo Ciappina said in the release.
“Exercise Pitch Black is a milestone as we declare our initial operational aircraft capability, working alongside Australia. Learning to fly and work together is a massive achievement,” Ciappina said.
Both the Italian Air Force and Italian Navy operate the F-35Bs. Cavour has a mix of F-35Bs and AV-8B Harrier II fighters embarked on the carrier for a total of 13 embarked aircraft. The exact composition of the air group has not been disclosed.
Pitch Black will be the first operational activity for the carrier in its deployment to the Indo-Pacific, with the carrier escort only including frigate ITS Alpino (F594). Italy has also sent additional aircraft to take part in Pitch Black, including four Eurofighter Typhoons, four F-35As, two F-35Bs, a single G550 Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, three KC-767 tankers from the Italian Air Force and two F-35Bs from the Italian Navy flying to Australia with rest stops in Qatar, the Maldives and Malaysia.
