Middle East Now Without a US Carrier

Defense News: WASHINGTON — The Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group chopped out of the European theater of operations Dec. 26 and headed home to Norfolk after months of operating in the Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean, where the strike jets of Carrier Air Wing 3 flew hundreds of missions against Islamic State group targets in Syria and Iraq. The homecoming is set for Dec. 30 — two days shy of the Navy’s stated goal of bringing the group home in seven months.

US carrier groups regularly relieve each other in theater, often handing off duties within sight of the other in the Arabian Gulf or Arabian Sea. But this time, no carrier is in the Eisenhower’s wake.

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