US carrier visit highlights security ties

The USS Abraham Lincoln’s arrival in Pattaya looks like a routine rest-and-recovery stop, but experts say the visit carries a sharper security dimension because the United States is currently at war with Iran.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is staying in Thailand until Sunday to allow its personnel to rest and recuperate after a long Middle East deployment. The ship carries about 5,600 crew members and can accommodate up to 90 aircraft. Its arrival also brings more than 5,000 US personnel to Pattaya.

Foreign affairs and security expert Panitan Wattanayagorn said the visit should not be viewed as an attempt by the United States to expand its influence. Instead, he described it as an effort to strengthen existing cooperation. That cooperation has two dimensions, he said. The first is rest and recovery, a longstanding Pattaya practice that supports the local economy. The second involves logistical arrangements between Thailand and the United States under the Cobra Gold framework.

The carrier’s accompanying escort vessels could also call at Sattahip for fuel and supplies, reinforcing the countries’ existing security relationship. But Panitan said the strategic implications were more complicated because the United States is at war. “It symbolises the war with Iran,” he said, noting that the crew had spent more than 250 days at sea before arriving in Thailand.

The visit is the Abraham Lincoln’s third to Thailand in two decades. The carrier first visited in 2006 and returned in 2012. The ship, commissioned in 1989 as the US Navy’s fifth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, has taken part in major operations including Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. It also participated in humanitarian assistance after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and helped evacuate nearly 45,000 people from Subic Bay after the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.

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It symbolises the war with Iran.