WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2018) Secretary of Defense James Mattis has approved the prepositioning of forces and equipment so the US military can respond quickly to local and state authorities' calls for help when Hurricane Florence strikes, the US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) Commander Gen. Terence O'Shaughnessy said.
"The Department of Defense is ready to respond... We are going to be ready for the first minutes and hours of Florence's impact," O'Shaughnessy told a Department of Defense press conference on Thursday.
The Defense Department had already deployed two amphibious assault ships, the Kearsarge and the Arlington and deployed at least 7,000 troops to provide emergency assistance where requested by local authorities along with a force of heavy lift M-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, O'Shaughnessy said.
"At this moment we have 7,000 personnel about 4,000 National Guard and 3,000 active duty: That number will fluctuate through the coming hours... As the storm clears we get the Kearsarge and the Arlington in. We are anticipating the needs," O'Shaughnessy said.
In light of Russia's international Vostok-2018 military exercises, O'Shaughnessy emphasized that NORTHCOM's ability to defend the United States and its remaining on full alert for potential threats had not and would not be impacted by preparations to deal with the hurricane.
"We've been able to launch F 22s and AWACS... We don't see this as part of Vostok although connected to it... We are continuing to maintain our ability to defend the homeland. We will maintain that ability for the Homeland Defense.... [There is] no drop in our ability to respond," he said.
On Tuesday, NORAD said in a press release that two F-22 Raptor fighter jets positively intercepted two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the bombers had carried out patrol flights over the northern seas and the Arctic Ocean as part of the Vostok-2018 military exercises.
