ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON in the Philippine Sea — The commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, speaking from the cavernous belly of one of America's most powerful warships, issued a message to potential adversaries.
U.S. naval forces in the Indo-Pacific train frequently alongside its allies, said Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, to deter “aggressive or authoritarian” countries from overreaching in the region.
Thomas said events like ANNUALEX, an exercise involving forces from five nations, send a message to would-be aggressors that “maybe today is not the day.”
The annual exercise, hosted by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, included approximately 35 warships and 40 aircraft from the U.S., Japan, Australia, Canada and, for the first time, Germany.
Marking the end Tuesday of the 10-day series of drills, Thomas described the participating navies as those of “like-minded nations” that share the same hopes for the region.
“There's no stronger peace of symbol and unity, and we work together out here to show the world what can happen when you maintain the security of this region,” Thomas said. “This region is more vital to the world than almost any other region when you look at global domestic product, or container movement or populations.”
The exercise's commander, Vice Adm. Hideki Yuasa of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, said Japan is monitoring Russian and Chinese activity in the region, but ANNUALEX was not targeted toward a specific…
