Recognizing the likelihood it will skirmish with the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army-Navy in the coming years, the U.S. Navy recently attacked one of its own decommissioned vessels, the USS Ford.
As Defense News reports, the Ford took a heavy beating before descending to its well-deserved slumber at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. That’s not coincidental. The Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate class, of which Ford was a part, are notorious for their survivability under heavy fire. This exercise thus allowed the U.S. Navy and Air Force to do two things: test their weapons against a hard target, and learn how to better integrate their capabilities in any future conflict.
This is crucial in preparing to fight and win against China’s increasingly capable navy. The 1990s, where China was a mere littoral naval force, are long gone. Today, Beijing relies on an expeditionary force able to deliver violence across the Indo-Pacific.
Still, the U.S. Navy wants to show it’s ready.
Defense News notes that the exercise involved hitting the Ford with munitions from B-52 bombers, Hellfire missiles from Navy helicopters, and the employment of the new naval strike missile. With a range of 100 nautical miles, that missile gives U.S. carrier air wing jets the ability to attack the enemy outside of its most potent air defense nets. That missile system will serve alongside another long-range weapons system, the LRASM, designed to deny the Chinese navy freedom of movement. Long range anti-ship missiles are especially important when it comes to China, which now retains a very high-threat network of air defense missiles and tracking radars with which to defend its vessels.
It’s too bad that the United States has to conduct such aggressive exercises, but it is necessary. China is challenging the American-guaranteed order at every level. And China is trying to prevent the freedom of sea transit through vast swathes of international waters. The U.S. Navy, albeit imperfect, is the necessary cornerstone against China’s success in these efforts. But it’s not enough to sail, dive, and fly in defense of our interests. It’s necessary to show China that we’re ready to fight and win. That’s what this exercise does.
And the Ford now rests in peace, a marker for our naval service and its deadly capabilities.
