US Navy’s Boxer Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), along with the embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), entered the US 7th Fleet area of operations on September 23.
Led by amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4), the group arrived in Asia Pacific after spending three months in the US 5th Fleet.
Joining 7th Fleet’s Naval Forces, the Boxer ARG and 11th MEU will work side-by-side with regional partners and allies to promote maritime security and stability in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
“Seventh Fleet AO is a dynamic region that will present our forces opportunities to conduct realistic training through complex, combined and joint exercises,” said Capt. Jason Burns, commander, Amphibious Squadron FIVE.
The ARG includes the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4), amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) and amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49). The 11th MEU is deployed with Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and serves as a theater reserve and crisis response force.
While in the US 5th Fleet, the ARG transited multiple straits to include the Strait of Hormuz, Bab-al-Mandeb strait and through the Strait of Tiran into the Gulf of Aqaba where Boxer ARG and 11th MEU conducted Eager Lion, US Central Command’s largest and most complex exercise that integrates forces in a multilateral environment and strengthens military-to-military relationships.