The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group sailed through the Malacca Strait on Friday as it makes its way to U.S. Central Command.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Joint Staff Office reported the People’s Liberation Army Navy Shandong CSG sailed back into the South China Sea on Thursday after participating in PLA drills against Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday.
AIS data, along with photos from ship spotters, showed the Carl Vinson CSG, comprising aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, cruiser USS Princeton (CG-59) and destroyer USS Sterett (DDG-104) transiting the Singapore Strait on Friday morning Singapore time. Subsequent data showed the CSG sailing north up the Malacca Strait later that day. Destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110) deployed with the CSG when it departed the West Coast in mid-November and operated with the CSG until late March, but appears not to be following the CSG to the Middle East.
USNI News reported on Mar. 21 that the Carl Vinson CSG had been ordered to head to CENTCOM and that the Harry S. Truman CSG, already deployed in CENTCOM, had its deployment extended for a month. The two CSGs are expected to overlap in CENTCOM as the U.S. continues ongoing strikes against Houthi forces in Yemen
The Carl Vinson CSG’s departure from the Western Pacific will be made up by the deployment of the Nimitz CSG, comprising of aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) with embarked CVW-17 and destroyers USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54), USS Gridley (DDG-101), USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108) and USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123). This is expected to be Nimitz’s last deployment before a planned decommissioning in 2026. Wayne E. Meyer is already in the Indian Ocean based on a Pentagon imagery release on Thursday, while Nimitz, along with its other escorts, as of Wednesday is in the U.S. Third Fleet area of operations.
On Thursday, Japan’s JSO issued a release on the activities of the PLAN Shandong CSG from Tuesday to Thursday. The release stated that the CSG, consisting of aircraft carrier CNS Shandong (17), cruiser CNS Yanan (106), destroyer CNS Zhanjiang (165), frigate CNS Yuncheng (571) and fast combat support ship CNS Chagan Hu (905), were at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in the Philippine Sea, in an area 223 miles south of Japan’s Yonaguni Island. At 8 p.m on Wednesday, the CSG was located 205 miles south of Yonaguni Island.
The release also stated that during the two days, Shandong conducted 40 launches and recoveries of its embarked fighter aircraft and 30 take-offs and landings of its embarked helicopters, making a total of 70 sorties by its air wing. On Thursday, Shandong, along with other PLAN ships, sailed toward the South China Sea. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer JS Onami (DD-111) shadowed the CSG, according to the release
An earlier JSO release on Tuesday stated that at 10 a.m. that day, the Shandong CSG comprised of Shandong, cruiser CNS Xianyang (108), Zhanjiang and frigate CNS Hengshui (572), and was sailing in an area 273 miles south of Yonaguni Island.
The JSO also issued two releases on Friday. The first stated that at 9 a.m. that day, PLAN destroyer CNS Nanjing (155) and frigate CNS Huanggan (577) were sighted sailing northwest in an area 56 miles northeast of Miyako Island, and subsequently sailed northwest in the waters between Okinawa and Miyako Island to enter the East China Sea. JMSDF minesweeper JS Kuroshima (MSC-692) and a JMSDF P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft of Fleet Air Wing 5 based at Naha Air Base, Okinawa, shadowed the PLAN ships.
The second Friday release stated that on the afternoon of that day, a Russian IL-20 electronic intelligence (ELINT) aircraft flew in from the Russian continent, flew over the Sea of Japan and subsequently over international waters off the coast of Kyogamisaki on the main island of Honshu. It then changed course to head northwest to the Russian continent. In response, fighter aircraft from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) Northern Air Defense Command and other commands were scrambled, according to the release.
While the Chinese military was wrapping up drills off Taiwan on Wednesday, it was also carrying out talks in Shanghai with the U.S. military from Wednesday to Thursday. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) issued a short release stating military officials from the U.S. travelled to Shanghai, China, to meet for working-level talks from Wednesday to Thursday, focused on decreasing the incidences of unsafe and unprofessional PLAN and PLA Air Force (PLAAF) actions.
The PLA issued its own release on the talks, stating both sides had candid and constructive exchanges on the maritime and air security situation between China and the United States since the last working group meeting, reviewed the implementation of the US-China Memorandum of Understanding On the Rules of Behavior for the Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters, and discussed measures to improve maritime military security issues between the two countries.
The release stated that the Chinese delegation pointed out that the safety of vessels and aircraft is closely related to national security and the reconnaissance, surveys and high-intensity training exercises in the air and at sea by the U.S. military vessels and aircraft along China’s coastline can easily lead to misunderstanding and miscalculation, endangering China’s sovereignty and military security. “In this regard, the Chinese military will continue to respond to all dangerous provocations in accordance with the law and regulations, and resolutely safeguard China’s national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” read the release.
