"For The First Time Since The End Of WW2..." Topic

…There Will Be No U.S. Aircraft Carriers In East Asian Waters (For About 4 Months)

"Defense policymakers in Japan and the U.S. are privately voicing concern about the total absence of U.S. aircraft carriers from East Asian waters for four months next year.

Budget constraints at home, combined with the rise of the Islamic State group in the Middle East, are limiting the American fleet's ability to operate in Asia. Temporarily at least, not a single aircraft carrier will be deployed in East Asia.

Japanese and U.S. officials fear having no U.S. carriers, which have long been the bedrock of the region's stability, could tempt North Korea and China to take advantage of the power vacuum to initiate a military adventure…"

fULL article here
link

This will probably prompt Japan to start developing its own fleet of aircraft carriers …. and fast.

Amicalement
Armand

Madness!

Especially as they don't need carrier aviation for Iraq. They've got access to land bases. Why not use them and reassign a carrier to the Pacific?!?

I looked at current deployments on this site:

globalsecurity.org/military/ops/where.htm

Seems a lot are either undergoing maintenance or are engaged in training to bring up to operational standard.

I concur.

People in high places are dropping the ball on this one, and it's not as if the carriers' jets are wiping out ISIS.

Put some USAF assets on a land airbase, with a strong protective force to keep suicide bombers and other guerrillas away, and keep a carrier full time in the Pacific.

I guess the alternative would be to beef up USAF assets in Japan.

Maybe they're inviting somebody to try something in East Asia?

And who exactly can it be?

T-rai too bam zee haabaa

Round up the usual subjects

Somehow I dont think NK or China will do anything. Scare tactics from someone. The US cant defend the world.

The latter are already building an airbases on a group of disputed reefs/islands in the South China Sea, so, they're not trying it, they're doing it already.

Also, just a few days after their meeting with the Japanese, on the Senkaku Islands situation, they sent warships into the waters there, so……

"The latter are already building an airbases on a group of disputed reefs/islands in the South China Sea, so, they're not trying it, they're doing it already."

Which a handful of sub launched cruise missiles would rubble in an instant.

China isn't going to do a damn thing. The risk is too high, the payoff too low and they're no where near ready (and even if they were ready, nuke powers going to war with each other is not a very wise thing…).

Possibly a view of things to come, at least for the next 2 years. Am I correct in saying 4 Sec Defs in 6 years with a search for a new one on the way ?

I looked at current deployments on this site:

globalsecurity.org/military/ops/where.htm

Seems a lot are either undergoing maintenance or are engaged in training to bring up to operational standard.

Standard operational pattern has fully 2/3rds of all surface ships in the US Navy either in the shipyards for maintenance or in training/workups prior to a 9-month deployment.

You read that correctly, with 11 carriers, 4 are in the shipyards and 4 are in training, with only 3 carriers deployed.

Embolden China or NK? -Nah, their plans are longer than four months.

It will, however, probably make SE Asian nations gravitate more towards China as well as convince Japan and Korea to keep militarizing. Taiwan as well.

A "rearmed" Japan will only make the nations along the Pacific Rim more nervous, thus seeking more weapons of their own, and so on.

New arms race. Possibly even secret nuke programs. …South Korea already had one which they gave up voluntarily, but not before they succeeded in enriching uranium.