Dzirhan Mahadzir – August 18, 2025 2:48 PM
Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group sailed over the weekend to the North Sea, while the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) headed to Alaska to participate in Exercise Northern Edge 2025 (NE25), a bilateral drill with Canada.
The Gerald R. Ford CSG, transited the Dover Strait on Sunday to enter the North Sea. The Strait of Dover is the narrowest part of the English Channel and separates Great Britain from mainland Europe, as well as the Atlantic Ocean from the North Sea. The last time a U.S. CSG operated in the strategically important area was October 2024, when the Harry S. Truman CSG conducted bilateral operations. Prior to 2024, the last time a strike group operated in the North Sea during a deployment was in 2018, according to the Navy.
“Gerald R. Ford’s agile transit through the Strait of Dover between England and France is a testament to our power projection capability that supports peace through strength,” Capt. Dave Skarosi, commanding officer of Gerald R. Ford, said in a news release. “Our skilled navigation team ensures that the world’s largest aircraft carrier brings our capability as a forward-positioned force anytime, anyplace, to defend the Euro-Atlantic region from hostile action.”
The Gerald R. Ford CSG is on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. The group includes flagship Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) with embarked CVW-8 and destroyers USS Mahan (DDG-72), USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) and USS Bainbridge (DDG-96). Sending the four warships to the North Sea, the Navy said, is meant to showcase the CSG’s flexibility, as well as its commitment to the security of the European theater, the Navy said.
In the Pacific, the Abraham Lincoln CSG is sailing to Alaska to drill alongside Canada’s military. While the exercise is held every two years, this year’s iteration is occurring on the heels of President Donald Trump’s summit in Alaska with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss the ongoing Russian-Ukraine conflict.
A total of seven ships, 6,400 service members and 100 aircraft are expected to participate in Exercise Northern Edge 25, which kicked off Sunday.
Representing the U.S. Navy is the Abraham Lincoln CSG, consisting of aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW-9) and destroyers USS O’Kane (DDG-77), USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) and USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121). Destroyer USS Carl Levin (DDG-120) is also operating around the North Pacific Ocean, according to a Pentagon imagery release, and the U.S. Army will conduct cyber operations.
“The mission of U.S. Navy carrier strike groups is to deliver sea control and power projection wherever the nation needs us,” Rear Adm. Todd Whalen, commander of Carrier Strike Group 3, said in a news release. “The sailors and Marines of Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group are excited to serve alongside our joint force counterparts to demonstrate our commitment to the region and our combined lethality.”
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) will be fully integrated with U.S. forces. RCAF and RCN assets will include the Airbus CC-150 Polaris tanker and Halifax-class frigate HCMS Regina (FFH-334), according to the release. The names of the remaining participating ships were not listed, but a Canadian Department of Defense release stated Regina was deployed with Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) HMCS Max Bernays (AOPV 432) and fleet oiler MV Asterix.
NE25 is a large-scale global exercise led by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command that serves as a platform for joint, multi-domain operations. The goal of the exercise is to deliver high-end, realistic warfighter training, strengthen joint interoperability, and sharpen the air and sea-based combat readiness of U.S. and participating forces, according to the release on the exercise.
“Northern Edge 2025 brings together multi-domain capabilities in high-end warfighting to ensure readiness to deter and, if necessary, defeat any adversary,” U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Rick Goodman, NE25 exercise director, said in a release. “Additionally, NE25 allows the joint force to work through posture and sustainment, specifically here in Alaska.”
The exercise also aims at larger operational priorities.
“One of the key objectives of the exercise is the cross-combatant command coordination between INDOPACOM and NORTHCOM. This highlights the criticality of Alaska as a key strategic geographic location important to homeland defense, as well as power projection should we find ourselves in a conflict in the Indo-Pacific,” Goodman said.
This year’s iteration of Northern Edge coincides with exercise Arctic Edge 2025, a North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command annual exercise. For the first time, the two exercises will occur concurrently with activities stretching across the Alaska Theatre of Operations including the Aleutians, all the way to Adak Island.
Abraham Lincoln left July 25 from San Diego, Calif., and has been training in the Eastern Pacific Ocean prior to NE25. The U.S Navy has not said whether the CSG will return to its homeport after NE25 or if it will move into an Indo-Pacific or Middle Eastern deployment. The Abraham Lincoln CSG deployed from July to December 2024 with the CSG operating in both theaters.