The United States appears to be flexing its military might in the Pacific, sending three aircraft carriers to the region for potential exercises.
Pentagon officials Thursday downplayed the deployment of the USS Nimitz, the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Theodore Roosevelt to the region, saying it had been planned “for quite a while.”
“It's just an opportunity to exercise three carrier strike groups together,” said Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff. “We always seek to do that when we have an opportunity to do that – it doesn't come along very often.”
Officials also said the deployments were not directed at recent provocations by North Korea, but would likely bolster U.S. allies in the region.
The three carrier groups are still thousands of miles apart, and military officials did not share any details of when exercises might begin.
North Korea has repeatedly threatened to test both its missile and nuclear warhead capabilities.
Last month, an official said Pyongyang could test "the most powerful detonation" of a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.
"North Korea makes a lot of threats and we are ready for anything that may come," Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters Thursday, adding, “we haven't, to my knowledge, changed any of our status or our posture."
The last time the U.S. had three carrier strike groups in the Pacific Ocean was 2007.
美国展示军力，调遣三艘航空母舰前往太平洋，准备军事演习。
五角大楼官员星期四淡化尼米兹号、里根号和罗斯福号航母开入太平洋的行动，称之为计划了相当长时间的行动。
美军联合参谋部主任麦肯锡中将说：“这只是三个航母战斗群一起演习的机会。我们每当有机会时都会这样做，这种机会不常有。”
美国官员还说，这次部署行动不是针对朝鲜最近的挑衅，但是有可能鼓舞亚太地区美国盟友的士气。
这三个航母战斗群目前相距数千公里。美国军方官员拒绝详细说明什么时候开始演习。
朝鲜一再威胁要测试其导弹以及核弹头的能力。
一位美国官员上个月说，平壤有可能在太平洋上空试爆迄今为止威力最大的氢弹。
五角大楼首席发言人怀特星期四对记者说：“朝鲜多次发出威胁。我们准备应对任何可能出现的局面。但是据我所知，我们没有改变任何状态或态势。”
美国上次向太平洋调遣三个航母战斗群是在2007年。