Is this really that bad of a crisis?
President Obama’s pivot to Asia will lack a crucial military underpinning next year, when for four months, the Navy will not have an aircraft carrier in the region.
Defense cuts have helped shrink the number of available carriers, alarming GOP lawmakers who are fighting the Pentagon’s plan to permanently cut the number of U.S. carriers to 10.
They argue not having a carrier in the region for months at a time will send a signal of U.S. weakness, as China seeks to make territorial claims against several U.S. allies over the East China Sea.
Given that I'm wary of leaving a forward-deployed aircraft carrier within range of China's land-based air and missile power lest it be hit in a surprise attack in the opening hours of a Chinese offensive, I don't get worried that we will lack a carrier there.
I don't know why we can't have land-based carrier air wing elements forward deployed in Okinawa (or the Gulf, as that post asked) with other wing elements further north in Japan's main islands or on Guam, capable of moving forward to Okinawa in a crisis?
