DOD assistance to Puerto Rico will likely delay deployment of F-35s to Pacific

The Defense Department's ongoing disaster assistance to Puerto Rico will likely delay the deployment of the U.S.S. Wasp, which is slated to bring F-35 Joint Strikes Fighters off the coast of Japan to mitigate threats from North Korea.

The Wasp is currently being used as a transport vessel in the hurricane assistance operation in Puerto Rico in the wake of the Category 4 storm that struck the island Sept. 20, killing at least 30 people and decimating its infrastructure.

“It is going to have a cascading affect,” Joint Staff Director Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie told reporters during a Pentagon press briefing.

“We're all in to help Puerto Rico. We're probably going to expect some downstream delay as a result of that,” he said.

McKenzie said the hurricane assistance operation would also cause a “slight delay” to deployment of approximately 3,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan. 

“There's a finite number of transport aircraft that U.S. Transportation Command has,” he said. “It will inevitably slow movement to other theaters.”