The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and the support ships of its strike group arrived at Busan, South Korea Sunday, in a bolstering of the U.S. military presence there following new missile tests by North Korea.
Carrier Strike Group One arrived in South Korea on March 2. The Navy called the visit a scheduled one, but the ships arrived shortly after Pyongyang carried out new cruise missile tests in the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Feb. 26. North Korean state media reported that the missiles flew approximately 130 miles, with Kim Jong Un overseeing the test. South Korea’s military later confirmed the missile launches.
The trial was done as a warning to “enemies, who are seriously violating the security environment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and fostering and escalating the confrontation environment,” North Korean state media said, and were the fourth such missile test so far this year.
“The Carl Vinson’s presence here not only underscores the importance of both the maritime and air domains but also reaffirms our commitment to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific by integrating these unique capabilities into our comprehensive all-domain approach,” Gen. Xavier T. Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said during a visit to the carrier.
The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, operating in the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet area of operation, is the first carrier group to visit South Korea since June 2024. The carrier and its support ships had been in the Philippine Sea, taking part in joint exercises with the French Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force for Exercise Pacific Steller 2025, a multi-deck operation that saw all three militaries field several aircraft in formation. That force projection exercise wrapped up last month and the U.S. Navy ships headed north to the Korean Peninsula.
The strike group includes, beyond the carrier, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton, and a pair of Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, the USS Sterett and USS William P. Lawrence. Carrier Air Wing 2 is also with the group, comprising squadrons flying F-35C Lightning II, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and MH-60R/S Seahawks, among other aircraft. The USS Carl Vinson previously visited Busan in November 2023.
The United States has staged several military exercise and force projection missions over the Korean Peninsula in response to tests and acts of aggression by Pyongyang. Those have included bomber flyovers and other aircraft exercises with South Korean and Japanese forces.
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