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By Ryan Chan
China News Reporter
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The United States and its allies have sunk two large warships with new weapons during a large-scale exercise in the Pacific Ocean earlier this month. This comes as the Chinese Navy continues to expand its fleet and operating area in the region.
The high-profile live-fire sinking exercises (SINKEXs) were held near the Hawaiian island of Kauai on July 11 and July 19, respectively. They were part of the U.S.-led international exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024, the U.S. Third Fleet said on Tuesday.
From June 27 to August 1, 29 nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, more than 150 aircraft and 25,000 personnel participated in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands. This year is the 29th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
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RIMPAC provides a "unique training opportunity" critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes, according to the U.S. Third Fleet. SINKEX is the highlight of RIMPAC, during which participants gained proficiency in attacking surface vessels in a realistic environment.
Collin Koh, a researcher with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told Newsweek that the SINKEXs aren't just a show of force.
"This training appears designed to project deterrence, ostensibly to signal to Beijing amidst the PLA's rapid buildup—especially that of the PLA Navy," Koh said.
"Having close allies and partners partake in SINKEX signals resolve to further enhance military interoperability, which will be crucial in times of a real shooting war."
PLA is the abbreviation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It has the largest navy in the world by hull count, with more than 370 ships and submarines, including over 140 major surface combatants, according to a U.S. Defense Department report last year.
In recent years, the Chinese navy has been operating beyond the first and second island chains, which serve as the western and eastern maritime boundaries of the Philippine Sea, respectively. A four-ship Chinese naval formation sailed near Alaska earlier this month.
Both the sunken target ships were former U.S. Navy vessels: the 17,000-ton amphibious transport dock USS Dubuque and the 39,000-ton amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa.
The U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy participated in sinking the ships, along with forces from Australia, Malaysia, the Netherlands and South Korea. Both the American and Australian naval forces fired their very first Naval Strike Missiles from destroyers.
This precision strike weapon is capable of destroying ships at distances over 115 miles.
Naval News reported that the U.S. Navy is reportedly planning to replace the aging Harpoon anti-ship missiles on destroyers with Naval Strike Missiles.
The Harpoon has a range of 77 miles but does not come with stealth capabilities like its successor. Australian destroyers will also replace their Harpoons with the new missiles.
In addition to a new shipborne weapon, this year's exercise featured an air-launched stealthy cruise missile, the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile, which has a range of over 230 miles. A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet fired one of these missiles on the Tarawa.
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In an unusual development, a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which is designed for dropping conventional and nuclear munitions on ground targets, demonstrated its anti-ship capability by employing the QUICKSINK bombs during the second SINKEX.
The QUICKSINK is a new, low-cost, air-delivered capability for defeating surface vessels that can quickly neutralize maritime threats over vast areas, according to the Air Force Research Laboratory. This was the first time the strategic bomber tested this capability.
It modified the existing 2,000-pound GBU-31 precision-guided bomb with a new seeker for targeting surface vessels. A single B-2 Spirit can deliver significant firepower for attacking ships, as it carries a maximum of 16 GBU-31 bombs.
When Newsweek emailed the Air Force Research Laboratory for comment, the laboratory said, "We have nothing else to provide beyond what is already in the news release."
QUICKSINK has been tested on fighter jets before. A test with a strategic bomber signaled the Air Force's renewed focus on maritime strike, Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
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"Given the U.S. military's capacity shortfalls and envisages closing of certain qualitative gaps with the Chinese, there's a greater emphasis on multi-domain operations between different U.S. armed services as well as with allies and security partners," Koh told Newsweek.
He said the overall emphasis of this year's RIMPAC seems to be on further enhancing joint warfighting, which the Chinese military is still trying to scale the steep learning curve.
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