The U.S. military’s annual exercises actually fired missiles at targets, and the retired Perry-class frigate was buried in the sea

According to foreign media reports, as part of the U.S. military’s 2021 large-scale military exercise, the U.S. joint force conducted a multi-service coordinated and multi-domain long-range sea strike exercise in the exercise area near the Hawaiian Islands on August 15. Various types of precision-guided munitions and missiles were launched on various platforms, including air-based and sea-based platforms, and accurately hit and successfully destroyed the target ship-the U.S. Navy’s retired guided missile frigate “Ingram”.

It is reported that the ship is the last Perry-class frigate kept by the U.S. Navy. This type of frigate designed and built in the late Cold War had all withdrawn from active service in the U.S. Navy as early as 2015, and a large part of it was sold by the U.S. or gifted to other countries. For the navy, the rest was either dismantled or sunk as a target ship during exercises. According to the exercise plan, the “Ingram” was sunk about 50 nautical miles from the coast of Hawaii at a depth of 1,800 meters to ensure that the wreckage of the warship would not affect shipping and the ecological environment.

The Pentagon declared that the purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate the ability of the US military to destroy enemy ships in a combat environment. The U.S. Navy’s 3rd Fleet, which is responsible for operations in the Indo-Pacific region, organized and implemented exercises. At the same time, the Marine Corps and the Army also participated in the exercise. The participating units included the USS Carl Vinson Aircraft Carrier Strike Group and the Marine Corps No. 1 3 Expeditionary Forces, Marine Corps 3rd Aviation Wing, and Army Multi-Domain Warfare Task Forces, etc. The exercise mainly verified the naval and marine expeditionary force’s ship interception system, including the unmanned shore-based missile launch vehicle modified based on the joint light tactical vehicle chassis. Each vehicle is equipped with two naval strike missile launch boxes, which are for the Navy and the Marine Corps. Provide a land-based long-range means of attacking the sea.
In addition to land-based anti-ship missiles, the F/A-18E “Super Hornet” fighter jets from the “Carl Vinson” aircraft carrier also launched AGM-154 joint attack munitions during the exercise. A P-8A “Poseidon” patrol aircraft launched the UGM-84 “Whaling Fork” anti-ship missile in coordination. In addition, the US military also tested the launch of Naval Strike Missile (NSM) from C-130 and LCAC air cushion landing craft. The missile accurately hit the target ship “Ingram” after flying about 100 nautical miles. The naval strike missile is a new type of high subsonic anti-ship missile developed by Norway. It entered service in 2012 and has a maximum range of 555 kilometers. It can be installed on ships and land-based launch platforms. The US Navy introduced this type of missile in 2014. , Equipped with Freedom-class and Independent-class frequency sea combat ships.

The “Ingram”, which served as the target ship in this exercise, belongs to the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate built by the United States in the late Cold War. Li level, retired in January 2015. The Perry-class, Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers, and Spruance-class guided-missile destroyers together constituted the troika of the U.S. Navy’s surface warfare ships in the 1980s and 1990s. Fifty-five Perry-class ships were built, of which 51 entered service with the US Navy and 4 joined the Australian Navy. In addition, the United States authorized Spain, Australia and Taiwan to build 16 ships of the same type, for a total of 71 ships. Since September 2015, the U.S. Navy has decommissioned all 51 Perry-class ships, 20 of which have been sold or donated to the navies of other countries or regions to continue service, and most of the remaining are dismantled or sunk as target ships.