DESRON 50 Expands Maritime Security Mission: "In the 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility (AOR), the men and women of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 50 play a vital role in providing maritime security by protecting sea lanes, conducting naval presence missions and ensuring freedom of navigation throughout the Arabian Gulf.
Although previously focusing on similar missions in the North Arabian Gulf, DESRON 50 has expanded its focus to include the mission of Combined Task Group 152.1, supporting Combined Task Force (CTF) 152 in working with coalition and regional partners to ensure maritime security throughout the Arabian Gulf.
'Our new tasking makes perfect sense given our role as the theater's permanent DESRON,' said Capt. Brad Mai, who commands DESRON 50. 'Our consistent presence in the Arabian Gulf not only allows us to build and maintain long-term relationships with our coalition partners in support of theater security cooperation missions, but it also allows us to become subject matter experts on the region in support of our maritime security operations objectives.'
Lt. Cmdr. Erik Lindstrand, DESRON 50's current operations officer, added that all missions in the region have a coalition flavor.
'On any given day in the Arabian Gulf, one can find U.S. ships working alongside U.K. (United Kingdom), Australian or French warships, in addition to assets provided by our Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) partners,' said Lindstrand. 'These coalition warships all have a common goal of creating the safest water space possible for legitimate merchant traffic, area fishermen and other commercial operations.'"
