PACIFIC OCEAN -- The Navy took another critical step forward in the future of the F-35C Lightning II joint strike fighter on March 6.The Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) conducted a vertical replenishment at sea, simulating the ability to transfer an F135 jet engine...

WASHINGTON -- On March 10-11, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs David F. Helvey and Thailand's Ministry of Defence Permanent Secretary General Natt Intracharoen led the 6th U.S.-Thailand Defense Strategic Talks. It was one of the first bilateral dialogues with a...

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- In the bright Japanese morning sun, stretched across the flightline, more than 500 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) members talk, rehearse jump procedures and shimmy parachute packs onto their backs. All the while, U.S. Air Force Airmen prepare 12 C-130J Super...

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- Every service member that enters the 36th Medical Group comes ready to perform their job, but is also assigned a wartime mission in a contingency response team, sometimes separate from their primary duty.On March 24th, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) arrived on Guam,...

CAMP ZAMA, Japan -- As Tomomi Watari stood silently for six minutes outside the U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Japan headquarters here March 11, she thought about her mother’s cousin, who was swept away in a tsunami after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the eastern coast of Japan 10 years ago.Her...

PHILIPPINE SEA -- The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), currently embarked aboard ships of Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON) 11, conducted joint patrols with assets from the Palau Bureau of Maritime Security, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Navy, in the Philippine Sea, Feb. 22-28, 2021.The patrols were...

U.S. Embassy and Consulates in India -- The Defense Department announced today the first international trip by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who will visit three nations in the Indo-Pacific region to discuss the strengthening of existing partnerships and alliances there.The secretary...

WASHIINGTON -- The Department of Defense (DoD) released its annual Freedom of Navigation (FON) Report for Fiscal Year 2020 on March 10, 2021. During the period from October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2020, U.S. forces operationally challenged 28 different excessive maritime claims made by 19...

U.S. Navy, 7th Fleet -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John Finn (DDG 113) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit March 10 (local time) in accordance with international law. The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open...

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan -- U.S. Air Force Col. Jesse J. Friedel, the 35th Fighter Wing and Misawa Air Base installation commander, hosted a commemoration ceremony with Japan Air Self-Defense Force and local civic leaders to honor of the 10th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake at Misawa...