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The United States is set to increase its military presence in the western Pacific by deploying five aircraft carriers, which analysts interpret as a deterrence message to China and North Korea amidst their growing military activities in the region.

This deployment will see three of the US Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers already on missions in the western Pacific, with two additional carriers joining them shortly. This represents the first instance of a significant concentration of US naval power in the western Pacific within a year.

The USS Abraham Lincoln, part of the US Pacific Fleet, was in the process of leaving San Diego, California, for the western Pacific on February 5, according to the US Naval Institute’s Fleet and Marine Tracker. Additionally, the USS George Washington is slated to replace the USS Ronald Reagan in the western Pacific. The Reagan is scheduled to return to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington for maintenance, leaving the George Washington to continue the US presence in the area.

Further enhancing the US naval deployment, the USS Carl Vinson and USS Theodore Roosevelt were stationed in Guam and Hawaii as of February 12. They are expected to operate in the western Pacific through April and July.

Defense analysts, including Benjamin Barton from the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia campus, suggest that this deployment highlights the United States’ commitment to the Indo-Pacific, noting that the “containment” of China is a central concern.