A major security operation is already underway ahead of the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier tomorrow, Friday. According to itamilradar, on Wednesday, a USN Boeing P-8A took off from Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy and conducted a long patrol over the Strait of Gibraltar. The mission was likely linked to the fact that earlier in the day the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) re-entered the Mediterranean after leaving it a few weeks ago to take part in a NATO exercise in the North Sea.
The USS Gerald R. Ford CSG includes, among others, the cruiser USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) and the destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG-96). On board, the carrier embarks Carrier Air Wing 8, whose strike component is equipped with F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jets. The Boeing P-8 Poseidon is an American maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by Boeing Defense, Space & Security. It was developed for the United States Navy as a derivative of the civilian Boeing 737 Next Generation airliner.
The P-8 operates in anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASUW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles. It is armed with torpedoes, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and other weapons, can drop and monitor sonobuoys, and can operate in conjunction with other assets, including the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
NAS Sigonella has the best claim to be a hub of U.S. naval air operations in the Mediterranean. The base command is the landlord to more than 40 other U.S. units. Among the largest are a rotating P-8A patrol squadron; a Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station; and a U.S. Naval Hospital. The hospital was built in 1992. Previously, there was only a clinic and the closest U.S. Naval Hospital was in Naples. Sigonella is home to more than 4,000 troops, civilian personnel, and family members.
NAS Sigonella is the Navy’s second largest security command, second only to that located at Naval Support Activity Bahrain. NAS Sigonella also has a large support of security personnel from NR NSF Sigonella, a Navy Reserve command based in NRC Detroit at Selfridge ANGB, Michigan.
According to Brandon Weichert, a commentator for The National Interest, the US Navy’s aircraft carrier Gerald Ford would likely be the first target in a potential NATO-Russia conflict. He believes that the vessel would immediately be struck by Russian hypersonic missiles.
Weichert reminded that Gerald Ford recently led a strike group during exercises in the North Sea, where concerns were raised about a possible Russian submarine of the Yasen class, armed with hypersonic missiles, getting dangerously close to the US flagship. According to the expert, Gerald Ford has no "real defense· against such a threat.