The debut of the F-35B at this year’s edition of the annual drill signals a shift in U.S. military presence in the region.
The annual multilateral exercise Cobra Gold kicked off February 25 in the Kingdom of Thailand. Since its inception, Cobra Gold has been a Thailand- and U.Z.S.-sponsored Combined Joint Task Force and Joint Theater Security Cooperation exercise. The USS America and the USS Green Bay amphibious assault ships carrying the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit , including F-35B aircraft, pulled into the Gulf of Thailand for this year’s drill.
Second, the planning guidance eludes to a shift of general focus to the Pacific and away from the fading wars in the Middle East. «I will continue to advocate for the continued forward deployment of our forces globally to compete against the malign activities of China, Russia, Iran, and their proxies – with a prioritized focus on China’s One Belt One Road initiative and Chinese malign activities in the East and South China Seas,» Berger says.
This article was written by ZacharuyWilliams
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