The
carrier Harry S. Truman is on its way to wage war with the Islamic
State group, and may launch airstrikes from the Mediterranean, joining
the French carrier in a show of force and solidarity.
Officials
are discussing whether the five-ship armada should linger in the Eastern
Mediterranean to pound IS targets in Syria rather than continue
immediately to the Middle East.
European Command, Naval Forces
Europe, Central Command and the Office of the Secretary of Defense have
discussed the possibility of keeping the carrier in Europe for several
days or longer, three Pentagon officials said.
The decision hinges
on a shifting security situation as responses ramp up in the wake of
Friday's Paris attacks that left 129 civilians dead and hundreds more
wounded in a brazen attack.
The French carrier Charles de Gaulle
is preparing to depart on a scheduled deployment Thursday for the Middle
East ahead of Truman, but reports from French media have indicated that
the carrier might stay in the Eastern Mediterranean.
"They were
scheduled for two-carrier ops with Truman in the Persian Gulf," said one
defense official, who like others asked for anonymity to
discuss internal deliberations. "But if I was a betting man, I'd say the
Charles de Gaulle stays in the Eastern Med."
The French
military is launching strikes into Syria from aircraft in the United
Arab Emirates and Jordan, according to media reports.
The
deliberations come against the backdrop of a fast-changing security
environment in Europe. On Tuesday, France invoked the European Union's
mutual-defense clause, which received unanimous support from the member
nations. It is unclear if France intends to invoke NATO's collective
defense agreement, as the United States did after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
On Monday, Russia said
a homemade bomb brought down a Russian airliner, killing 224 people, and
vowed retribution. IS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that he has ordered his
military to make contact with the Charles de Gaulle carrier group and to
treat them as allies in the fight against IS, which adds a new wrinkle
for U.S. planners that could impact Truman.
A request for comment
from the French Embassy in Washington on whether Charles de Gaulle would
proceed as planned to the Persian Gulf for strikes was not returned by
press time.
The Truman is currently conducting carrier
qualifications on its way to Central Command, and is scheduled to arrive
in the Persian Gulf by mid-December, barring any changes. CENTCOM has
been waging war against ISIS for the past month without the benefit of a
flattop; the fleet has been stretched trying to fulfill missions in
CENTCOM and in the Asia-Pacific region, where tensions have flared
between China and its neighbors.
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