In a display that may have drawn significant attention from China, the United States used its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises to sink the decommissioned warship, the USS Tarawa. Interestingly, the bomber launched a new, cost-effective missile to take down the enormous vessel.
As part of the multi-national maritime and aerial drills RIMPAC conducted earlier this month, two warships — the ex-USS Tarawa (an amphibious assault ship) and the ex-USS Dubuque (an amphibious transport dock) — were sunk by the US using live ammunition.
The US military’s most advanced maritime strike weapon, the stealthy Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), was fired from a US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet this year, striking USS Tarawa. However, the military also employed its B-2 Stealth bomber, which fired the low-cost QUICKSINK missile.
The test was deemed “very significant,” as it is believed that it could be employed in a potential conflict with China. The missile was fired from the B-2 bomber to destroy the defunct USS Tarawa amphibious assault ship, which measured 820 feet in length with a displacement of around 40,000 tons.
The US Navy announced the test of the all-new weapon in a press release: “This capability is an answer to an urgent need to quickly neutralize maritime threats over massive expanses of ocean around the world at minimal costs.”
The exercise demonstrated that the US military could use a low-cost guided bomb to sink a large surface ship using one of its most resilient weapon systems, the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The bomber is the mainstay of the US Air Force’s bomber fleet and is anticipated to play a crucial role in any future conflict in the Indo-Pacific.
The B-2 bomber’s stealth features allow it to operate at high altitudes with minimal chances of detection by radar, enabling it to penetrate heavily defended airspaces. This grants a battlefield perspective that lower-flying aircraft cannot achieve with their sensors. So, outfitting this bomber with a lethal yet inexpensive missile is promising.
