we have all heard of RIMPAC but what exactly is it and what actually happens during it
first some basics RIMPAC stands for the rim of the Pacific Ocean and is held every other year by the US Navy's Pacific Fleet the exercise has been running since 1971 and this is a 26 RIMPAC it is a huge event and takes place mostly around Hawaii with other events happening in Southern California it is the world's largest maritime exercise currently
held this year 25 nations 46 ships five submarines over 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in the exercise it will run from the 27th of June to the 2nd of August, Israel Vietnam and Sri Lanka are also participating in RIMPAC for the first time one notable country missing this year's China China has participated in previous RIMPAC exercises in 2014 and 16 this year the U.S. uninvited them citing China's recent actions in the South China Sea referring to China building and deploying weapons to several islands in Nazi
Russia is another major country not participating this year Russia took part in RIMPAC 2012 they were invited to RIMPAC 2014 but declined and they have not been invited back since, Russia and China along with other nations will be holding their own military exercises called peace mission 2018 and the International Army Games this summer but back to RIMPAC the overarching objective of RIMPAC is to forge relations between nations militaries this includes joint military exercises but also meet and greets receptions many many photo ops let ik events and even humanitarian assistance and disaster relief all in the goal of creating bonds and connections between the participating nations so that when a real world event does happen a commander from one nation is able to pick up the phone call a commander of another and have a personal connection with that person that is the official explanation another reason for the exercise is to show off your country's military might to other nations several times new weapon systems have been showing off and tested at RIMPAC for example this year the US Navy is bringing its newly commissioned USS Portland an amphibious transport ship that will be armed with the laws laser system and a test launching of the new lr ASM anti-ship missile
RIMPAC is broken down into phases first is Harper or port phase during which events meetings athletics along with amphibious urban combat and various, other drills take place after this is a sea phase where live weapons test and naval drills and maneuvers occur and finally RIMPAC is wrapped up with nations playing out specific scenarios combining all aspects of warfare as of writing this harbor phase has just ended and sea phase is set to begin, sea phase is when we get to see all the cool missile tests so unfortunately we do not have footage of them yet to show you but all sorts of weapons are tested torpedos bombs guns surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship missiles just to name a few most of these weapons will be fired at simulated targets meaning they will just fly off into the air hitting nothing and as long as they reach the point on the radar or sonar screens where the simulated target is it will be judged to success however there will be some real targets as well
the U.S. call it sink X where an old decommissioned naval ship will be used as a target participating nations will then have a chance to fire missiles guns and torpedoes in it to sink it the USS Ingraham and Ford frigates along with the USS ran seen a landing ship are among the targets of sink X at RIMPAC for 2018
