USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), navigates Tokyo Bay on the way to Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka for a scheduled port visit on Aug. 28, 2021. US Navy Photo
KUALA LUMPUR – Six task groups from the U.S, U.K., Australian, Japanese and Indian navies are currently on operational deployments in the Indo-Pacific region amidst an intense fall and early winter period of multilateral exercises. Read More
Vice President Kamala Harris visits the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16), Aug. 23, 2021. US Navy Photo
KUALA LUMPUR – The United States will stand with its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region against any threats to the rules-based order, Vice President Kamala Harris said during a swing through the region this week. Read More
Legend-class U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter Munro (WMSL 755) transits the Taiwan Strait during a routine transit with Arleigh-burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100), Aug. 27. US Navy Photo
A Navy guided-missile destroyer and a Coast Guard National Security Cutter moved through the Taiwan Strait on Friday, marking the eighth transit of the waters this year by an American warship. Read More
An Oshkosh-built Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary (ROGUE) Fires vehicle with a Naval Strike Missile attached during a November 2020 test at Point Mugu, Calif. US Navy Photo
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Key to the Navy and Marine Corps future battle plans in the Western Pacific are populating ships and expeditionary ground units with anti-ship missiles. Read More
Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) launches a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) during Exercise Pacific Griffin on Oct. 1, 2019. US Navy Photo
The Chinese military sees the Littoral Combat Ship armed with anti-ship missiles as a key element of a U.S. distributed maritime force in the Western Pacific, according to a translation of a 2020 Chinese government research paper on the U.S. Navy’s distributed lethality concept reviewed by USNI News. Read More
An MH-60S Knight Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 (HSC 21) lands on the flight deck of the independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS-16) on July 5, 2021. US Navy Photo
KUALA LUMPUR — The Navy is making Littoral Combat Ship deployments in the Indo-Pacific region more flexible and unpredictable, allowing the service to respond to impromptu engagement opportunities and ensuring the LCS are not tied to any fixed location for too long, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said during a media conference call on Wednesday in conjunction with his official visit to Singapore. Read More
USS Charleston (LCS-18) arrives for a contactless port visit ahead of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Sri Lanka on June 23, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Navy will have six Littoral Combat Ships deployed by the end of the year – a record for the program, several Navy officials have confirmed to USNI News. Read More
Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) 2nd Class Trenton B. Coble, from Edgewood, Texas, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21, guides an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter during a vertical replenishment exercise aboard Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16). US Navy Photo
KUALA LUMPUR – Two Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships – USS Tulsa (LCS-16) and USS Charleston (LCS-18) – are currently on their first deployments to the Indo-Pacific region, with Charleston recently conducting a refueling stop in Singapore at Changi Naval Base and Tulsa operating in the Philippine Sea. Read More
The Independence-variant littoral combat ships USS Montgomery (LCS 8) and USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) operate in the South China Sea, accompanied by an MH-60S Sea Hawk assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, Jan. 28, 2020. US Navy photo
The Navy is now pushing the Littoral Combat Ships out into the Pacific in force after more than a decade of stops and starts and studies. Read More
PLAN Ocean Salvage and Rescue Ship Yongxing Dao-863
KUALA LUMPUR – China has dispatched three ships to Indonesia to assist in the salvaging of the Indonesian attack submarine KRI Nanggala (402). Two ships – the People’s Liberation Army Navy Ocean Tug Nantuo-195 and PLAN Ocean Salvage and Rescue Ship Yongxing Dao-863 – arrived on scene May 3 and the third ship, scientific research vessel Tan Suo 2, is expected to arrive today. Read More
