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.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS