The US military began on Tuesday (3rd) to conduct the largest global maritime and amphibious exercise across 17 time zones in 40 years. The analysis pointed out that the exercise is aimed at China and Russia, showing that the US military is capable of responding to multiple attacks at the same time. The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, carrying the fifth-generation fighter F35C for the first time, left San Diego, California, and will participate in exercises and may be deployed in the Indo-Pacific waters. When the situation is tense, the sea east of Hainan Island has drawn a restricted navigation zone, and the People's Liberation Army is preparing to conduct military training in the South China Sea for 4 consecutive days.
The exercise is called "Large Scale Exercise 21 (LSE21) 2021" and lasts at least two weeks. It is the largest exercise for the US military since the end of the Cold War. The exercise modes include real-time and virtual, simulating various possible naval combat scenarios, and evaluating and revising the concepts and modes of modern joint forces participating in combat. The location covers multiple waters in Europe, Asia and Africa. Aircraft carriers, submarines, military aircraft and unmanned ships are dispatched. A total of 25,000 people including 5 fleets of the U.S. Navy and 3 expeditionary units of the Marine Corps participated.
The US Indo-Pacific Command confirmed that it will conduct exercises with partners such as the British Army, the Australian Defense Force and the Japanese Self-Defense Force. The exercises include field operations, logistics support, amphibious landings, airborne operations, air and sea operations, and special forces operations, etc., to enhance cooperative combat capabilities, enhance mutual trust, and strengthen common understanding of security challenges. In addition, a task force consisting of four destroyers and frigates of the Indian Navy will be deployed in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific for two months, during which exercises will be held in Guam with Japan, the United States and Australia.
Strategy experts believe that the United States has demonstrated to China and Russia and other countries through exercises that it is capable of simultaneously responding to challenges in the Black Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean, the South China Sea, and the East China Sea to deter China's attempts to seize Taiwan and the Diaoyu Islands. The China Maritime Safety Administration announced on Wednesday (4th) that military training will be held in parts of the South China Sea from Friday to Tuesday, and ships are prohibited from entering. The blocked sea area is located in the southeast of Hainan Island, covering an area of 100,000 square kilometers.
The U.S. Department of Defense did not disclose where the Carl Vinson will be deployed. It is believed that it will go to the Indo-Pacific to fill the vacuum after the departure of the Reagan and Roosevelt aircraft carriers. The Carl Vinson Strike Group has a total force of more than 7,000. It is escorted by the Aegis cruiser Lake Champlain and 6 other Aegis destroyers, namely Higgins, O’Kane, Chaffee, Dewey, and Stow The Dell and Murphy. Carl Vinson carrier-based aircraft include F35C stealth fighter, F/A18 Super Hornet fighter, EA18G Growler electronic combat aircraft, MH60R Seahawk anti-submarine helicopter, MH60S Knight Hawk helicopter, E2D early warning aircraft and CMV22B Osprey transport aircraft.