• US military planes flew an entire Patriot battalion from the Pacific region to the Middle East.

• The head of US Indo-Pacific Command said Thursday that this took 73 C-17 flights to do.

• The relocation of the Patriot air defenses comes amid a broader force build-up in the Middle East.

US military airlifters flew over 70 cargo loads of equipment from the Pacific to the Middle East, moving a Patriot air defense battalion from a priority theater to the tense region, a top commander said on Thursday.

The recent relocation of the high-profile air defense system comes amid a broader build-up of US military assets in the Middle East, including aircraft and warships. Tensions with Iran and the Houthi rebels in Yemen are running high.

During testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Adm. Sam Paparo, who leads US Indo-Pacific Command, was asked about the military's capability gaps that exist in his theater.

He singled out cargo lift as an area of concern.

"For instance," Paparo said, "just having moved a Patriot battalion into the CENTCOM AOR, it took 73 C-17 loads to move" that battalion. He was referring to the US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East region. "Our lift requirements must be paid attention to," he told lawmakers.

A Boeing-made C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft can carry around 170,000 pounds of cargo, with a maximum takeoff weight of 585,000 pounds. The US military has more than 200 of these planes across the armed forces.

The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile system that has been in service since the 1980s and is regarded as one of the most advanced air defense systems that the US operates.

The US military has 15 battalions and has previously deployed them to the Middle East.

One battalion consists of four batteries, each of which includes a radar, a control station, and up to eight launchers that can individually hold four interceptor missiles.

Paparo did not elaborate on the Patriot movement. However, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing the day before, an exchange between Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton and Gen. Xavier Brunson, the commander of US Forces Korea, indicated that the batteries came from the Korean peninsula.

It's unclear where in the Middle East the Patriot battalion is being deployed, but the movement comes amid renewed tensions in the region.

Israel has resumed its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, and the US has carried out airstrikes against the Houthis for over three weeks in an attempt to get the Yemeni rebels to finally stop their Red Sea attacks.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is pressuring Iran into a new nuclear deal, with the president threatening military action against Tehran if the two adversaries can't reach an agreement.

At the start of April, the Pentagon said that it was extending the Middle East deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and sending another strike group into the region.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also ordered more aircraft to the Centcom area in addition to "other air assets that will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities," possibly alluding to the Patriot movements.

Those aircraft include B-2 stealth bombers, which deliver tremendous firepower, and A-10 attack aircraft, in addition to the extra fighter jets attached to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which looks to have just arrived in the Middle East along with its strike group.

The US military and its partners "are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region," chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said at the start of this month.

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China, North Korea and Russia military cooperation raises threats in the Pacific, US official warns

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander, Admiral Samuel Paparo, gestures during a press conference at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio, northern Philippines.

The top U.S. commander in the Pacific warned senators Thursday that the military support China and North Korea are giving Russia in its war on Ukraine is creating a security risk in his region as Moscow provides critical military assistance to both in return.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that China has provided 70% of the machine tools and 90% of the legacy chips to Russia to help Moscow “rebuild its war machine.”

In exchange, he said, China is potentially getting help in technologies to make its submarines move more quietly, along with other assistance.

Senators pressed Paparo and Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, on China's advances in the region, including threats to Taiwan. And they also questioned both on the U.S. military presence in South Korea, and whether it should be shielded from personnel cuts..

Both said the current U.S. force there and across the Indo-Pacific is critical for both diplomacy in the region and America's national security, as ties between Russia and China grow. The U.S. has 28,500 forces in South Korea.

Paparo said North Korea is sending “thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of artillery shells” and hundreds of short-range missiles to Russia. The expectation, he said, is that Pyongyang will get air defense and surface-to-air missile support.

“It’s a transactional symbiosis where each state fulfills the other state's weakness to mutual benefit of each state,” Paparo said.

In his opening comments, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican committee chairman, said the greater alignment of Russia, China and North Korea “should be of great concern to all in the West. This concern should then lead to action. If we are to maintain global peace and stability, we must continue taking steps now to rebuild our military and reestablish deterrence.”

Brunson said North Korea has shown the ability to send munitions and troops to Russia while advancing development of its own military capabilities, including hypersonics. Pyongrang, he said, “boasts a Russian-equipped, augmented, modernized military force of over 1.3 million personnel.”

North Korea’s efforts to develop advanced nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles ”pose a direct threat to our homeland and our allies,” Paparo added.

North Korea also has sent thousands of soldiers to fight with the Russians against Ukraine. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Russia is actively recruiting Chinese citizens to fight alongside its forces in the Ukraine war. He said more than 150 such mercenaries are already active in the battle with Beijing’s knowledge.

China has called the accusation “irresponsible.”

In other comments, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said observers fear that President Donald Trump will “shrink the U.S. troop presence in Korea and Japan, reduce our military exercises with both nations, and scale back plans for our Joint Force Headquarters in Japan.” Any such actions, he said, will sow “seeds of doubt” about America’s stability and trustworthiness.

He also questioned whether recent moves by the Pentagon to shift an aircraft carrier and Patriot missile battalion from the Pacific region to the Middle East have hurt military readiness in the Indo-Pacific command.

Paparo said he owes the defense chief and the president “constant vigilance” on that matter, including a persistent awareness on whether those forces could get back to the Pacific if there is suddenly a "higher priority threat" in his region.