The Pentagon ups deterrence in Middle East

The Pentagon has boosted its deterrence presence in the Middle East with the openly-declared arrival of a nuclear-powered, guided-missile submarine. The unidentified submarine is an Ohio-class boat, the largest in the US Navy. Originally exclusively armed with strategic nuclear ballistic missiles, four of the 18 in the class have been converted to carry up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Although US Central Command tweeted the arrival of the Ohio submarine in the region, it did not specify which version of the boat had been sent. However, the submarine seen passing through the Suez Canal would appear to be the guided-missile conversion model . The four converted Ohio-class submarines are the USS Ohio, USS Florida, USS Michigan and USS Georgia. In the latest show of deterrence, the Ohio-class guided-missile submarine, probably with a full complement of 154 1,000-mile-range, land-attack Tomahawk, has joined two US Navy aircraft carrier strike groups: the USS Gerald R Ford with five escort warships in the eastern Mediterranean off Israel, and the USS Dwight D Eisenhower with three ships in the Red Sea. The 26th US Marine Expeditionary Force on three amphibious warships, with 2,400 marines, is also in the eastern Mediterranean, along with USS Mount Whitney, a command ship sent from Italy which has on board Vice Admiral Thomas Ishee, commander of the 6th Fleet. The Pentagon normally makes no comment about the location of any of its nuclear-powered submarines, either the ballistic-missile class or the converted guided-missile version or the smaller hunter-killer class. However, in recent years, occasional announcements have been made to underscore America’s deterrence capabilities. In October last year, General Michael Kurilla, commander of Central Command, was officially photographed boarding the USS West Virginia, a strategic-missile deterrent Ohio-class submarine, at an undisclosed location in the Arabian Sea. This version of the submarine can carry up to 20 ballistic missiles with a range of 4,000 miles. In July, the USS Kentucky, also a ballistic-missile version of the Ohio-class submarine, made a port call in South Korea, the first publicly-declared visit of a US Navy boomer in 42 years.