Pentagon chief visits aircraft carrier based off Israel amid Gaza war

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declined to specify an end date for major US deployments to the Middle East as Washington petitions allies to send forces to patrol the Red Sea against Houthi attacks.

Austin made the comments during a visit to the US Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, which remains on extended deployment in the eastern Mediterranean, as part of a broader buildup designed to deter Iran and its proxies from opening new fronts as Israel’s war in Gaza grinds on.

The Ford remains in a high state of readiness within striking distance of Iran-backed proxies in the Levant, the carrier’s captain, Rick Burgess, told Al-Monitor. “We are prepared to do any of the missions that we were asked to plan [for],” Burgess told reporters onboard.

Elements of the carrier strike group led by the Ford have conducted intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance around Israel, while two of its destroyers, the USS Carney and the USS Thomas Hudner, have shot down drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea over the past two months.