USS Bonhomme Richard. US NAVY PHOTO
The USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD6), a forward-deployed amphibious assault ship of the United States 7th Fleet, has been patrolling the Philippine Sea since July 1, according to a photo essay posted on July 5 in the official blog site of the US Navy.
Spokesmen from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine Navy (PN) refused to comment on the blog report, which some quarters say may have unwittingly revealed a violation of international law, including the Visiting Forces Agreement between the US and the Philippines which limit the entry of US military forces in the Philippines. However, sources said this may not necessarily be a problem, since the "Philippine Sea" strictly speaking extends from Taiwan to the Marianas to Japan.
One of the photos, datelined “Philippine Sea” and dated July 1, showed the warship being refueled by oiler USNS Yukon (T-AO 202). It was posted by “Stanbailey” and entitled “Your Navy Today – Arabian Gulf, Philippine Sea, Guam.”
Earlier, an article posted on the 7th Fleet’s website said the warship departed Sasebo, Japan on June 25 to conduct patrols in its area of responsibility in the Asia Pacific.
“The forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD6) completed embarkation of Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) in support of joint force operations in the US 7th Fleet area of responsibility, June 25,” the article said.
The ship reports directly to Rear Adm. Jeffrey A. Harley, commander of the Amphibious Force 7th Fleet.
Earlier this year, the former USS Guardian (MCM5) “minesweeper” strayed into Tubbataha Reef in Sulu Sea, Palawan. It ran aground and had to be dismantled on-site to prevent further damage to the UNESCO Heritage Site. The USS Guardian belonged to the same naval fleet.
The article said the USS Bonhomme was loaded with “more than 100 vehicles and 300 pieces of equipment from the MEU's ground combat element, aviation combat element (ACE), logistics combat element, and command element” after weeks of embarking preparations before it departed Sasebo.
It said the 31st MEU consists of a reinforced infantry battalion, a reinforced tiltrotor squadron, a combat logistics battalion, and a command element that allow the Bonhomme Ricahrd Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) to conduct amphibious operations from the sea and project power ashore.
“This patrol will also feature MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 265, embarked as part of the ACE for its first forward-deployed patrol with Bonhomme Richard,” the article said.
Just recently, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera met in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City and discussed the possibility of a joint hosting of aerial exercises with the US MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.
In an ambush interview, Onodera neither confirmed nor denied this but he emphasized that the US presence in the Asia Pacific is “very important.”
“The US presence is very important…We talked about rebalance strategy of United States but we did not talk about any in the future specific equipment of the US forces,” he said.
Gazmin said the government may forge an agreement based on the VFA to give greater access to military base and facilities of visiting American and Japanese forces.
These developed as China becomes more aggressive, intruding into territorial waters of the Philippines and Japan.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/65780/powerful-presence--us-warship-patrolling-philippine-sea---us-navy-official-blog
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.