Is the US military beginning to put meat on its Asian bones?
US politicians and senior military figures are effusive in affirming their commitment to partners and hangers-on in the Asia-Pacific region, but question marks always surround whether the talk is being buttressed by actions on the ground – or in the water as the case more often than not is. However, there are growing signals from the USAF and USN that they are firming up their resolve, including more frequent freedom of navigation operations (FONOP) and now the deployment of a second Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) to Singapore.
The LCS’s presence has something of a chequered history in the Asian region,
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