US army support vessel may be deployed to Asia, operate from S’pore

HONOLULU — The United States could deploy to Asia an Army Logistic Support Vessel (LSV) that operates out of Singapore as part of Washington’s pivot to the region, a senior American military officer revealed today (Feb 11, Singapore time).

Colonel Eric Shirley, a support operations commander in charge of providing logistical support for the operations of the United States Pacific Command (PACOM), said the US government has “committed to providing additional resources” to PACOM to support President Barack Obama’s foreign policy rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region.

“We are planning on how we will use additional logistics support vessels in the region,” added Col Shirley, who is with the 8th Theater Sustainment Command.

“There has been a series of information briefs given to our senior leadership and right now we are targeting in on Singapore as a potential future home that would best support the interests of PACOM and all the partner nations in the region,” he said.

The colonel was hosting a group of journalists from South-east Asia on board US Army Vessel CW3 Harold C Clinger. The LSV is crewed by 29 Army Mariners and is designed to hold any vehicle in the US Army inventory as well as comparable vehicles in other branches of the US military. It has conducted port calls to several countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.

Col Shirley said that an LSV may operate out of Singapore “on a permanent or rotational basis, working with our existing infrastructure” in the Republic. “That is one of the options now that is being considered for the future,” he said, adding that a decision will not be made until late this year at the earliest.

The stationing of an LSV in Singapore will “provide additional options and additional capabilities to our senior military leaders,” he said.

“It also provides greater opportunities to partner with the nations in the region as we talk about the inter-operability between our militaries and how we can support engagement, training and support to the people of the region should there ever be (the need for) a disaster response.”

The US operates the USS Fort Worth, a littoral combat ship (LCS), in the region to refuel, replenish supplies and carry out maintenance at Singapore’s naval bases. The vessel started a 16-month rotational deployment to Asia early last year.

It is the second LCS rotating through Singapore as the US tries to increase its presence and deepen alliances in the Asia-Pacific region. Another LCS, the USS Freedom, had completed an eight-month stint in December 2013. It was the first of four such ships that Singapore has allowed to be deployed in its waters.