Navy carrier aviation is back in the Arctic Circle for the first time in nearly 30 years, the latest sign that the Pentagon is looking to flex its muscles during an era of great power competition.<\/p>\n
The Harry S. Truman entered the Norwegian Sea on Friday, the first flattop to do so since September 1991, according to a U.S. 6th Fleet press release.<\/p>\n
The carrier and select escorts from its strike group are preparing to participate in a massive NATO exercise straddling late October and early November, but they arrived Friday in fast-thawing northern waters in the wake of warnings from the Navy\u2019s top officer about rising Russian activities there.<\/p>\n
The Truman\u2019s path on Friday was across what strategists call the \u201cGIUK Gap,\u201d waters around Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom considered vital if American warship must rush to Europe to aid allies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u2019s also a key route for Russian submarines slipping into the North Atlantic.<\/p>\n
The Truman strike group will conduct air, surface and underwater exercises in the rough seas, freezing temperatures and relentless winds before joining 30 NATO allies for the massive Trident Juncture maneuvers.<\/p>\n
The exercise will take place in Norway and off the NATO ally\u2019s shore, plus the Baltic Sea. It\u2019s slated to involve 14,000 American troops alongside 36,000 personnel from friendly nations. More than 50 aircraft, 65 ships and 10,000 vehicles also will take part in the maneuvers, planners say.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What was old is new again. Winters in Keflavik and Bodo are no joke, and survival in the event of a ditch is unlikely at best. World class ASW, though, and the boys and girls flying up there have new aircraft and new tricks that I would dearly loved to have had back when I wore a flight suit. This exercise also debunks the left’s trope about Trump being in Vlad’s hip pocket- an aircraft carrier and escorts just over the horizon sends an unmistakable message.<\/p>\n
The entire article may be viewed at The Navy Times<\/a><\/p>\n![\"aircraft](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/carrrier-e1540155394998.jpg\")
4.5 Acres of Sovereign US Territory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An F\/A-18F Super Hornet launches from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman Friday in the chilly … The Navy sends a carrier back to Russia\u2019s arctic haunts<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-navy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"fa](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/fa-18-vapes-e1540136563934.jpg\")
An F\/A-18F Super Hornet launches from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman Friday in the chilly Norwegian Sea. The carrier is the first of its ilk to enter the Arctic Circle in nearly 30 years. (U.S. Navy photo)<\/p>\n