The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and its Carrier Strike Group 5 (CSG-5), the U.S. Navy's largest carrier strike group, will be deployed off North Korea to reinforce the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and its Carrier Strike Group 1 (CSG-1).

Japanese media revealed the USS Ronald Reagan will probably join USS Carl Vinson in mid-May after the former concludes a support mission for landing operations on Iwo Jima Island, its first mission after four months of maintenance at its home port.

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USS Ronald Reagan is based at United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY), the main U.S. Navy base in Japan located in Tokyo Bay. CFAY is the largest strategically important U.S. Navy installation in the Western Pacific.

It supports U.S. Navy Pacific operating forces, including principal afloat elements of the United States Seventh Fleet. These elements include the only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, her CSG-5 and Destroyer Squadron 15 (DESRON 15).

The navy has issued no official statement as regards the Reagan's deployment off North Korea butr is expected to do so in the coming days.

The addition of the USS Ronald Reagan and its four squadrons from Carrier Air Wing 5 (CVW-5) consisting of some 60 Boeing F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet strike fighters will bring to over 110 the number of strike fighters aboard the Reagan and the Vinson.

The CVW-5 strike fighter squadrons are VFA-27 (Royal Maces); VFA-102 (Diamondbacks); VFA-115 (Eagles) and VFA-195 (Dambusters). Including these four strike squadron, there are nine aircraft squadrons in CVW-5. Two of these squadrons operate Sikorsky MH-60 multi-mission helicopters.         

CSG-5 includes three Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers and DESRON 5 with its seven assigned Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

Ronald Reagan and the 10 surface combatant ships of CSG-5 operate out of CFAY while CVW-5 operates out of Atsugi, Japan when not embarked on the Ronald Reagan. Together, these units form the U.S. Navy's only continuously forward deployed carrier strike group.

The Reagan strike group returned to its homeport of Yokosuka in November 2016 after a three-month patrol in the Western Pacific.

In October, the Reagan was deployed off South Korea for the Invincible Spirit drills, and North Korea attempted a failed missile test hours before the Reagan docked in Busan.

The Reagan's visit to the Korean peninsula was a show of force after North Korea conducted two underground nuclear tests and fired several missiles in the face of punitive United Nations sanctions and international condemnation.