USNI News:
Amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1) is expected to participate in the annual Foal Eagle joint exercise with the Republic of Korea early next month.
The Foal Eagle is an annual joint exercise involving combined ground, air, naval, and special operations forces. The purpose, according to Pentagon officials, is purely defensive, to protect South Korea and the region from a North Korean strike. Last year, for instance, for the first time the U.S. Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile defense system was part of the exercise.
In March 2017, USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) joined roughly 300,000 South Korean and U.S. military personnel in Foal Eagle 2017. Navy spokespersons would not say whether other Navy ships, such as aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), currently operating in the Indian Ocean, was expected to participate in Foal Eagle 2018.
