The deployment comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a 10th strike against a suspected drug smuggling vessel.

The Pentagon has deployed the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the world, to the region, ostensibly to fight cartels.

China’s newest aircraft carrier may only be able to conduct air operations at about 60% the rate of a 50-year-old US Navy carrier, two former US carrier officers say, a substantial combat limitation for a vessel meant to revolutionize Beijing’s fleet.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is routing a carrier strike group to US Southern Command to bolster efforts in a new Caribbean drug war.

The $12.9 billion warship stretches 4.5 acres and is the first of the Navy's next generation of aircraft carriers.

The U.S. Navy regularly conducts training exercises to simulate and prepare for combat. In 2015, a tiny sub "sank" one of its aircraft carriers in a drill.

As tensions between Beijing and Washington continue to mount, the Trump administration has dispatched two of the Navy’s aircraft carriers near China. Both the Nimitz and George Washington Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) are currently operating in the Western Pacific.

France plans to order a third Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapult track for the French Navy's future aircraft carrier known as PA-Ng