“Carrier Strike Group, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit Will Join Air Force in Massive Alaska Exercise” –USNI

Northeast Russia and Alaska are in close proximity and the U.S. Coast Guard will interact more and more as Russian maritime activity in the Arctic grows. Photo: Shutterstock

While the Atlantic Fleet has begun to exercise North of the Arctic Circle, Pacific Fleet has yet to exercise surface ship even close to that latitude. That may be changing, though I suspect they will still not get much further North than the Aleutians. 

US Naval Institute News Service reports

The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the yet-to-be-named carrier strike group will be key players in the Pacific Air Force-led exercise Northern Edge 2021 from May 3 to 14, exercise planner Air Force Lt. Col Michael Boyer said on Wednesday.

Part of the exercise will attempt to blend the Marines’ Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) that is charting the course of the service’s modern Pacific island-hopping campaign with the PACAFs Agile Combat Employment, a concept that allows the service to operate from more than just well-prepared air bases, Boyer said.

This is a big jump in Navy participation.

I expect the Coast Guard will have at least a minor role in the exercise. Coast Guard cutters and aircraft normally are included in the annual Northern Edge exercises. As I recall, in an earlier exercise, a Coast Guard C-130 was used to help set up an austere forward operating base for the Air Force. 

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