The U.S. Navy has deployed its strike group from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea in a move to help counter the Islamic State organization, the U.S. European Command said Friday.

The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group comprises the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, Carrier Air Wing 7, Carrier Strike Group 8, guided missile cruiser USS Anzio, Destroyer Squadron 28 and guided missile destroyers USS Bulkeley, USS Gonzalez and USS Gravely.

The strike group passed the Suez Canal on Thursday and launched multiple combat sorties on Friday to destroy the resources of the Islamic State organization in support of Operation Inherent Resolve over Syria and Iraq.

“While the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group is in the 6th Fleet area of operations, they continue to project power ashore against terrorists and violent extremists,” said Navy Vice Adm. James Foggo III, the 6th Fleet commander.

The combat sorties are meant to provide strike, ballistic missile defense, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to the EUCOM and the U.S. 6th Fleet.

Rear Adm. Peter Fanta, director of warfare integration at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, will be assigned as director of surface warfare division at OPNAV and be succeeded by Rear Adm. Ronald Boxall — commander of the U.S. Navy‘s Carrier Strike Group 3.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson announced the assignments in a Defense Department release published Friday.

Fanta has previously served as commander of the Expeditionary Strike Group 5, Amphibious Squadron 2, Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group, USS Rushmore and USS Falcon.

He also held positions such as combat systems and weapons officer for USS John Paul Jones, chief engineer on USS Pegasus, and 1st lieutenant and damage control assistant on USS Coontz.

Fanta’s career includes roles such as deputy director for resources and acquisition; director of the ballistic missile defense and combat systems integration at the surface warfare division and executive assistant to the assistant navy secretary.

Boxall has commanded USS Lake Erie in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and USS Carney homeported in Mayport, Florida and has been deployed in missions across the Western Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans as well as Baltic, Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas.

He also supported combat operations in the Arabian Gulf and counter-narcotics missions off South America.

Boxall served in various onshore staff positions and most recently as deputy director for surface warfare at OPNAV from May 2012 to July 2013 and deputy director for joint strategic planning in the joint staff from July 2013 to October 2014.

The U.S. Army has decided to select a Humvee replacement vehicle for the service’s scout units instead of a light reconnaissance vehicle, Military.com reported Friday.

Matthew Cox writes the Army ditched its initial plan to equip its infantry brigade combat teams with light reconnaissance vehicle in order to destroy hostile reconnaissance formations.

The service launched a request for information in January 2015 for an LRV platform able to carry six soldiers and a weapon system such as a 30mm cannon, according to the report.

The Army told the publication that LRV is currently not an Army program and that the service began to field the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle with sensor and lethality upgrades to retire the Scout HMMWVs.

The Army selected Oshkosh in August 2015 to build the JLTV for both the Army and the U.S. Marine Corps.

U.S. Army developers for an unmanned aerial vehicle Ground Based Sense and Avoid system have scheduled a fall return to the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah for the final stage of its last system test.

The Army said May 10 that John Innes, program test lead, indicated that the GBSAA is the first system to meet federal requirements in aerial aircraft detection and communication.

Monitoring functions of the system such as its health, warnings and aircraft position will be conducted and conveyed by a manned ground-based operator to an aircraft monitor.

Innes said that the system supports operators to fly UAVs and unmanned aircraft systems in the National Airspace System without the need for a lookout or ground observer due to its aircraft location and operator notification.

Tests on the GBSAA started in 2012 in Dugway, an exercise that set two Shadow UAS on a collision course and evaluated how the system recognizes other vehicles and notifies operators.

The Army plans to field the GBSAA at five major stateside installations with the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force showing interest in adopting the system for stateside installations.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said the U.S. is fully committed to Asia-Pacific countries’ political, economic and military ties that work to build on the region’s security network, DoD News reported Saturday.

Karen Parrish writes Carter spoke at the 15th annual International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that was attended by regional and world leaders.

Carter said the U.S. is committed to Asia-Pacific’s security network because the region represents almost half of the world’s population and economy and could affect American security and wealth, Parrish quoted.

Carter noted China and India will join the U.S.-hosted Rim of the Pacific Exercise in the summer while Japan and South Korea are collaborating in new ways, DoD News said.

He added the security network supports humanitarian and disaster response missions; anti-terrorism efforts; and the security and access to global and regional commons such as vital waterways, Parrish wrote.