The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan.
This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release.
The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike group against live forces, it said.
Photo: AFP / US Navy / Dylan M. Kinee
The capstone event of the drills is the sink exercise, which is to utilize different classes of ships throughout the years, the War Zone said in a report on June 10.
This year’s target, the USS Tarawa, an amphibious assault ship, was the lead warship of its class and was designed to transport marines and support them with its complement of strike aircraft, the outlet said.
Although another Tarawa-class vessel was destroyed for target practice before, the ship’s impending demise is still important, as few opportunities exist for navies to test their weapons against a large and heavily protected target, it said.
“It [has] been a very long time since the navy used an amphibious assault ship of any kind for the RIMPAC [sink exercise], but [it] is the largest ship of any kind to be used in more than a decade,” the report said.
“Amphibious assault ships are high-value assets ... designed to be well-protected right down to their core structures and otherwise resilient to damage thanks to redundant features,” it said, adding that the USS Tarawa was more modern than the Iwo Jima-class types sunk in past drills.
The planned destruction of the USS Tarawa in the war games coincided with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s efforts to expand its amphibious assault ship fleets, which would be “top target for US forces,” it said.
The ongoing RIMPAC exercise is meant to send China “a strong message,” analyst Richard Fisher Jr told Voice of America Cantonese.
The destruction of the USS Tarawa, the equivalent in size to China’s largest landing helicopter docks, would show the Chinese that the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, he was cited as saying.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS