The U.S. is sending additional destroyers and bombers to the Middle East over the next several weeks as the Pacific carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) will leave the region soon, Pentagon officials announced.
Over the weekend, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered more ballistic missile defense destroyers, Air force fighter squadrons and B-52 long-range bombers to the Middle East, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder confirmed Monday. No additional details about which destroyers, aircraft or fighter squadrons will go were included in the release.
It is unclear when the Abraham Lincoln CSG will depart the region. Lincoln deployed from the West Coast in July. Ryder would not give additional details about when the Abe CSG will leave or when the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), currently in Oslo, Norway, will arrive.
Depending on the two carrier strike group timelines, it could be the first time without a carrier strike group in the Eastern Mediterranean or Middle East in more than a year. The U.S. has maintained a carrier presence in the Med since the Truman CSG in December 2021, ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Although there was some gaps, the U.S. maintained the Mediterranean presence until the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, with the U.S. sending the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean. When the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group deployed, it headed to the Middle East with the Ford CSG staying in the Med.
The Ford CSG was replaced by USS Mesa Verde (LPD-19) while the other ships of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group remained in Central Command with the Ike CSG. After a nine-month deployment, with seven months spent in the Red Sea, the Ike CSG headed home with the Theodore Roosevelt and then the Abe carrier strike groups surging into the area from their West Coast deployments.
The Abe CSG arrived in August, with the TR CSG heading home in September.
The Truman CSG left in September and is planned to head to U.S. 5th Fleet. However, unlike the other carrier strike groups that went straight to U.S. 5th Fleet, the Truman CSG operated in the North Sea and then made a port call in Oslo.
There are three independent destroyers currently in the Red Sea, as well, according to USNI News’ Fleet and Marine Tracker. Despite the plans for the Central Command area to be without a carrier strike group, the U.S. will be able to maintain its Operation Prosperity Guardian responsibilities, Ryder told reporters Monday.
