A United States Navy maritime patrol aircraft shadowed two Russian warships as they transited a major waterway between two U.S. allies in East Asia on Wednesday.
A photo published on Friday showed a group of U.S. Navy sailors conducting maritime domain awareness operations on August 21 aboard an aircraft near the Tsushima Strait, which lies between South Korea and Japan—connecting the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.
The photo showed that the American personnel were assigned to Patrol Squadron 10, an aircraft unit based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida. The squadron, operating P-8A “Poseidon” maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, began conducting missions from Japan on April 8.
The operations carried out by the “Poseidon” come as Russia‘s navy conducted a transit in the Tsushima Strait. Cruiser Varyag and frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov, both armed with missiles and guns, passed through the waterway on Wednesday and Thursday, Japan’s Defense Ministry said.
Lt. Branden Deeter/U.S. Navy
Mass Communication Specialist First Class Ashley Guire/U.S. Navy
The “Poseidon” is the replacement for P-3C “Orion” and is capable of conducting long-range anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It can also launch torpedoes and cruise missiles on targets and is equipped with advanced radars and sensors.
The U.S. Navy did not state the purpose of the operations, but it said the American forces in the Indo-Pacific operated in and around critical sea passages and trade thoroughfares to deter threats that create “regional instability and impinge on the free flow of goods, people, and ideas.”
The Varyag and Marshal Shaposhnikov entered the Tsushima Strait from the East China Sea and headed northward to the Sea of Japan while being watched by the Japanese navy. They were likely returned to Vladivostok, a port city in the Russian Far East region where the country’s Pacific Fleet is headquartered.
Japan’s Defense Ministry
The Varyag and the Marshal Shaposhnikov began a long-distance voyage in late January and reached the Mediterranean Sea in April. They remained in the region until last month, when they entered the Red Sea via the Suez Canal for the return journey, the Pacific Fleet said.
While the U.S. Navy deployed an aircraft over the Tsushima Strait, two of its warships conducted similar operations in nearby waters on Wednesday. The amphibious assault ship USS America and the destroyer USS Ralph Johnson conducted combined operations near the Miyako Strait.
The destroyer operated near the Luzon Strait and the South China Sea later that day, photos posted by the Navy showed. These waterways form a maritime containment strategy called the first island chain, which starts in Japan and extends southward to Taiwan and the Philippines.
The USS Ralph Johnson transited to the East China Sea by passing through the 110-mile-wide Taiwan Strait on Thursday—implying that it likely made a two-day-long clockwise circumnavigation around Taiwan, a self-ruled, democratic island that China claims as part of its territory.