The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit is embarked aboard the America Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), “campaigning and competing in the Indo-Pacific region,” reads a Tuesday statement.
The 31st MEU had embarked on the ships of the America ARG — amphibious assault carrier USS America (LHA-6), amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD-22), and amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD-47) on Jan. 28, “We’re looking at a pretty large chunk of INDOPACOM’s ‘ready now’ combat power,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. Chris Niedziocha, the commanding officer of the 31st MEU in the statement.
“Here in the first island chain, the ARG/MEU team competes every day with our opponent. It’s exhilarating to be this far forward, embarked aboard warships – deterring the adversary, reassuring our partners, and signaling resolve,” reads the statement.
USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker on Monday showed the America ARG and 31st MEU currently operating in the Philippine Sea. The assembly marks the first ARG/MEU patrol this year. The release did not state specific activities for the deployment but a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force release on Jan. 24 said that the 31st MEU and America ARG will participate in the bilateral Iron Fist 25 exercise to be held around Japan’s southwest islands from Feb. 19 to March 7.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet announced in a release that a surface action group consisting of corvettes RFS Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov (339) and RFS Rezkiy (343) and fleet oiler Pechenga had set out for a deployment to the Asia Pacific region, “As part of the upcoming combat training events, the corvettes Rezkiy and Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov will conduct a series of exercises in the Asia-Pacific region, including searching for and destroying submarines of a mock enemy and ensuring air defense at sea,”, read the release.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Monday tracked the passage of the Russian Navy surface action group as it transited the Tsushima Strait. A Japan Joint Staff Office (JSO) release on Monday stated that at midnight that day, two Russian Navy corvettes and a fleet oiler were sighted sailing southwest in an area 43 miles northeast of Tsushima and subsequently sailed southwest through the Tsushima Strait. JMSDF fast attack craft JS Otaka (PG-826) and a JMSDF P-1 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) of Fleet Air Wing 4 based at Naval Air Facility Atsugi on the main island of Honshu shadowed the Russian ships, according to the release.
Among the activities, the Russian Navy surface action group will be carrying out on its deployment is participation in the Indonesian Navy’s Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo 2025, a naval humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise that will be held in Bali from Feb. 15 – 22 with 37 countries participating with the U.S. and China among the nations sending ships to participate in the drills. Russia’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Sergei Tolchenov confirmed the participation of the Russian surface action group in the Komodo drills in a Monday interview with Russian state media Ria Novesti, “The international naval exercises “Komodo-2025” are scheduled to open in Bali on February 16. A detachment of ships from the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy, consisting of two corvettes and a support vessel, will participate in these events.”, said Tolchenov in the interview.
