Reports circulating online and attributed to Reuters, claiming the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier has arrived in Israel or is on its way, are false, according to an Israeli defense analyst. The carrier is currently in dry dock in Norfolk, Virginia, for a scheduled maintenance rotation expected to last over a year. It only recently completed a record deployment of 326 days.
Reports have circulated on social media and some news aggregators, some attributed rightly or wrongly to Reuters, claiming that the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier has arrived in Israel or is en route and expected in the coming days. A detailed debunking by a defense analyst states the Ford is currently undergoing a maintenance rotation in Norfolk, Virginia, expected to last more than a year. The ship recently completed the longest deployment of any US carrier since the Cold War — 326 days — leaving its crew exhausted and systems in need of urgent maintenance. The analyst concludes: 'In short, it's not here and not on its way here.' The Ford's forward presence in the Eastern Mediterranean in late 2023 and early 2024 was a major US deterrent signal during the first phase of the current war. Its current absence is unrelated to any immediate operational shift.
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