US-China rivalry: will America’s new ‘floating base’ heighten tensions?
- USS Miguel Keith will allow America to set up a sea base almost anywhere in the world, security expert says
- US Navy’s new vessel can accommodate about 100 sailors and 44 civilians and has a range of more than 9,500 nautical miles
However, as the base is vulnerable to attack, it will primarily be used in low-intensity conflict and non-war missions, they said.
The assessment came after the USS Miguel Keith, a US$525 million, 785-foot expeditionary mobile base, was commissioned into active service with the US Navy on May 8. Its first destination will be Saipan in the US commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Pentagon said.
The vessel, which can carry about 100 sailors and 44 civilians, has a range of more than 9,500 nautical miles and a top speed of 15 knots. Its flight deck is big enough to accommodate the navy’s largest helicopters, the MH-53, and Marine Corps F-35B jets.
The Miguel Keith is a semi-submersible, flexible modular platform that provides the navy with the capability to perform large-scale logistics movements such as the transfer of vehicles and equipment from sea to shore.
Such bases can also be used for other military operations, such as warfare, counter-piracy and humanitarian support, and can be used as a floating port in the absence of a land facility.
Timothy Heath, a security expert from the Rand think tank in the US, said the Miguel Keith would improve the operational flexibility and survivability of America’s naval and amphibious forces.
“The new ship allows the US to set up a sea base in many parts of the world without needing land-based ports and infrastructure,” he said.
“It also means US forces can be sustained offshore in unpredictable locations, which improves survivability as sea bases are harder to find and target than land bases.”
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Song Zhongping, a Hong Kong-based military analyst, said the vessel was primarily a support ship.
“It can be used as a simple aircraft transport hub for helicopters with additional function as a port,” he said.
The Miguel Keith, is the US Navys’ third floating base, and its commissioning comes at a time of rising tensions between the US and China.
Its crew would be on the front line of global conflict against threats to the United States, particularly China, he said.
“The Chinese Communist Party, with its insidious and corrupt influence, seeks global dominance and to impose its version of international order,” Faller told a crowd of about 100 people.
“To continue winning this global competition we must be at the top of our game. We need to keep developing the best technology and the best ships, like you see here today.”
“The [Miguel Keith] can’t do the patrols, but its value lies in being the staging points for smaller vessels, drones and helicopters … and China is obviously very likely to be allergic to this idea as it could view [the vessel] as a direct challenge to its bid for physical domination of the South China Sea,” he said.
Besides China, other countries might be wary of the vessel’s operation in the Asia-Pacific region, “because they may foresee the increased likelihood of tensions ramping up, as such a deployment could potentially mean increased chances of encounters between Chinese and American forces operating in the area”, Koh said.
China does not have its own expeditionary mobile base but is planning to build one, according to the February edition of Chinese military publication Ordnance Industry Science Technology.
