ST, LOUIS (KMOX) - A U.S. official confirms to CBS News that the U.S.S .George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is primed to deploy to the Middle East.
The Bush CSG is currently near Naval Station Norfolk after completing its COMPTUEX (Composite Training Unit Exercise), which is standard to any deployment.
The group would move through the United States European Command region en route to the Middle East. The weapons onloading of the Bush strike group, although standard ahead of any deployment, took longer than is typical, given where the group is going and what it may be expected to do.
The U.S.S Gerald Ford has crossed the Suez Canal and is now operating in the Red Sea. It will take some time for the USS George H. W. Bush to get to the region, let alone up and operational.
But the U.S. official said the Bush group's time in the Middle East is expected to overlap with the USS Ford, which has already seen its deployment extended, and the USS Abraham Lincoln, putting three Carrier Strike Groups in the region.