For the first time, the US Navy is conducting operations with F-35C Lightning II stealth fighters and CMV-22B Osprey aircraft on board an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea. The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) arrived in the South China Sea on Monday (06), through the Bashi Channel, amid the typical tensions and protests of the Asian giant, which claims the region.
The Carl Vinson left San Diego in early August carrying the US Navy's first integrated air wing, also called the Wing of the Future. F-35C stealth fighters and CMV-22B tilt-rotor transport aircraft are, for the first time traveling operationally with F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, E-2D Hawkeye and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, and Seahawk helicopters, forming Carrier Air Wing 2 (CVW-2) of Carrier Strike Group 1 ( CSG-1).
CVW-2 is composed of the following squadrons:
- Fighter and Attack Squadron (VFA) 147 Argonauts, with F-35C Lightning II fighters
- VFA-2 Bounty Hunters, with the F/A-18F Super Hornet
- VFA-113 Stingers, with the F/A-18E Super Hornet
- VFA-192 Golden Dragons, with the F/A-18E Hornet
- Electronic Strike Squadron (VAQ) 136 Gauntlets, with the EA-18G Growler
- Multimission Logistics Squadron (VRM) 30 Titans, with the CMV-22B Osprey
- Maritime Attack Helicopter Squadron (HSM) 78 Blue Hawks, with the MH-60R Seahawk
- Sea Combat Helicopter Squadron (HSC) 4 Black Knights, with the MH-60S Seahawk
- Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 113 Black Eagles, with the E-2D Hawkeye.
Before reaching the choppy waters, the CVN-70 aircraft flew British Royal Air Force and US Marine F-35B fighters that are operating from the UK aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, where forces exercised interoperability capabilities.
The arrival of the US Navy vessels logically did not please the Chinese. While the US Navy claims that its presence is intended to enforce international laws that allow free navigation in international waters, China responds by saying that the US is demonstrating its strength and destabilizing the region.
Last Wednesday (08), China claimed and tracked the navigation of a US destroyer. The USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, ed over areas adjacent to Meiji Reef in the South China Sea “without permission from China”, says the Chinese state newspaper Global Times.
Tian Junli, Colonel of the People's Liberation Army (PLAAF) Air Force and spokesman for the Southern Theater Command, pointed out that the US action gravely violated China's sovereignty and security. “More and more facts prove that the US is the greatest risk and destroyer of stability and peace in the region”, said the officer. Tian emphasized in the statement that China has sovereignty over the islands and nearby waters and PLAAF troops in the Southern Theater Command will always be on high alert.
In response to the Chinese remarks, the US Navy's 7th Fleet said the destroyer conducted the so-called operation freedom of navigation (FONOP) in accordance with international law and then continued to conduct normal operations in international waters.
"The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate where international law allows, as the USS Benfold has done here. Nothing China says will stop us.”, says the US Navy in release issued on the 08th.
“Protecting a free and open Indo-Pacific means understanding the spatial, electromagnetic and information environment along this vital international maritime highway,” said Captain Tony Butera, information warfare commander for the Carl Vinson's Strike Group.
"The operations we have recently conducted have increased our multi-domain understanding of this historic area, ensuring that information warfare teams aboard our ships can better the overall carrier strike group objectives of maintaining security, promoting stability and prevent conflicts.”
