USS Carl Vinson To Drill with French Carrier, Japanese Destroyer Carrier
Dzirhan Mahadzir
February 7, 2025 5:27 PM
The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group will carry out the week-long French-hosted exercise Pacific Steller with the French CSG and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer carrier JS Kaga (DDH-184) in the Philippine Sea from Monday until Feb. 18, according to U.S. 7th Fleet and JMSDF releases on Thursday.
Exercise Pacific Steller 2025 is a multi-large-deck event (MLDE) designed to advance coordination and cooperation among French, Japanese and U.S. maritime forces, according to 7th Fleet’s release.
“While France is a resident nation of the Indo-Pacific, it has not deployed its CSG to this part of the world for a long time,” said Rear Adm. Jacques Mallard, commander, French CSG in the release. “There is no doubt that PACIFIC STELLER will ramp up to a new level of interoperability for our three navies and represents a challenge that we are more than eager to take up alongside Japanese and U.S. partners.”
The most recent large deck event in the Indo-Pacific occurred in August 2024 between aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Cavour (CVH550).
https://news.usni.org/2025/02/07/uss-carl-vinson-to-drill-with-french-carrier-japanese-destroyer-carrier
