But the absence gives Beijing another opportunity to display its strength, Clark said. China is already testing the watersThe carrier withdrawal comes against a backdrop of increasing Chinese military activity around contested areas of the western Pacific.

China conducted naval exercises with Indonesia this week and has recently carried out military activities involving Japan and the Philippines, both US allies with territorial disputes with Beijing. Chinese forces also conducted drills near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea this month.

China and the Philippines both claim the feature. Last month, a Chinese guided-missile destroyer conducted a live-fire exercise near Japan's southernmost island of Okinotori.

The US has tried to reassure its partners that the movement of the George Washington does not signal an abandonment of the region. Adm.

Frank Bradley, head of US Special Operations Command, visited Manila on Thursday and told Philippine officials that American special operations forces were prepared to expand joint exercises. He is also expected to travel to Japan.

Still, Evan Sankey, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute who studies US policy toward China, told AP that the lack of an aircraft carrier adds to the perception that Washington is distracted by the conflict in the Middle East. The Lincoln's unusually long deploymentThe George Washington's move is also a consequence of what has happened to the Lincoln.

The ship has spent more than 240 consecutive days at sea, setting a modern record, according to AP. The deployment has drawn increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and military families concerned about the conditions faced by its crew.

USS Abraham Lincoln has been at centre of controversy over its prolonged deployment affecting sailors' mental healthReports have raised concerns about food and other supplies, plumbing, water, mail and mental health aboard the ship. Democratic lawmakers have called for greater congressional oversight.

There were allegations that some sailors aboard the carrier attempted to jump overboard amid the prolonged deployment and mounting mental-health concerns. The Pentagon has pushed back against some of those reports.

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth said accounts of poor conditions aboard the Lincoln had been “completely misrepresented”, while Navy officials have denied that there has been a rise in suicidal ideation among the crew. The Navy operates 11 aircraft carriers, but only a fraction can be deployed at any one time.

Others are undergoing maintenance, training or preparing for future deployments. Bryan Clark said the extended Iran war could create a longer-term maintenance problem because carriers returning from unusually long deployments will need substantial work.

If the USS Theodore Roosevelt is also sent toward the Middle East, the Navy could have four carriers deployed simultaneously, potentially allowing the George Washington eventually to return to the Pacific. But that would create another problem: maintenance.

The US has only two shipyards capable of carrying out major carrier maintenance, creating the possibility of a backlog as heavily used ships return from deployment. The result could be fewer carriers available for routine deployments even after the Iran war eventually winds down.

Are giant carriers still the future? The strain is also reviving a broader debate inside US defense circles: how much should America continue to rely on giant aircraft carriers in an era of cheap drones, long-range missiles and increasingly sophisticated anti-ship weapons?

Michael Swaine, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute's East Asia Program, argues that carriers are becoming increasingly vulnerable to drones and missiles, particularly against a technologically capable adversary such as China. Smaller ships, submarines and other systems could potentially deliver some of the same capabilities without putting such an enormous and expensive platform at risk.

For now, however, the Navy still needs the carriers, and Trump's Iran war is forcing it to move them around the globe. As Washington pours military attention into the Middle East and the Western Hemisphere, the western Pacific — the region the administration has said should be a central strategic priority — is temporarily without an American aircraft carrier.

Imphal: President Droupadi Murmu on October 21 conferred the Lalit Kala Akademi National Award on Manipuri sculptor Nimai Singh Sarungbam for his teak wood scul...