In the Chinese's view, if the PLA wants to sink the opponent's warships, amphibious assault ships and aircraft carriers, it will definitely use ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, supersonic missiles, and sub-super combined missiles to achieve strike missions, and there is no need to even consider the use of subsonic missiles such as YJ-83, because there are many long-range strike and high-speed penetration weapons available. As a result, many people believe that the US military also has a strong anti-ship combat capability. In the just-concluded "Rim of the Pacific 2024" multinational joint exercise, the US military simulated sinking China's large amphibious landing ship, the decommissioned "Tarawa" amphibious assault ship, which made many US blowers have something to talk about.
Previously, some media claimed that the weapon used by the 40,000-ton giant ship of the US military is the NSW strike missile, that is, a subsonic cruise missile similar to the YJ-83, which is really puzzling, after all, it is extremely difficult to sink the giant ship with this 120-kilogram warhead missile. In front of 29 countries, it would be a shame if the United States messed up. No, because the Chinese 815A reconnaissance ship came uninvited and participated in the entire RIMPAC exercise, the United States could not afford to lose this person in front of the Chinese army.
So, how exactly did the US military sink the "Tarawa"? CNN finally gave the answer after the exercise: the US military used its ancestral stunt - gliding bomb anti-ship. Why is it "ancestral"? Because the U.S. military used bombs to strike enemy warships in World War II, and this tradition is still preserved today. There are two changes in the U.S. military this time: first, the platform for dropping bombs has been changed from ordinary fighters and bombers to B-2, which can improve the suddenness of the strike; Second, the gliding bomb used has been upgraded, and the modified version of the GBU-31 "Jedam" guided bomb integrates GPS guidance, radar seeker and infrared imaging guidance module, which has the ability to hit moving targets, while also retaining the powerful characteristics of gliding bombs. In the anti-ship combat tactical system of the US military, a 900-kilogram gliding bomb is used to explode near the keel of an enemy warship, or to explode underwater, causing great damage to the hull with the help of the incompressibility of water.
United States has always been known for its "tall" military equipment development, but this exercise shows that the US military is beginning to shift to lower-cost solutions. The B-2 bomber can carry up to 16 GBU-31 bombs, demonstrating its formidable anti-ship firepower in a conflict at sea. CNN boasted that this capability is a response to the urgent need to quickly eliminate threats at sea.
This begs the question: Is the US military's adoption of the ancestral anti-ship bomb tactics still viable? The answer depends on who you are dealing with. If it is used against warships that do not have advanced air defense capabilities, or as long as they do not engage a powerful opponent such as the Chinese navy, this tactic is still quite strong. However, if the United States wants to make up for a series of problems such as the serious backwardness of its anti-ship missile technology, the high cost of missile procurement, the poor penetration capability, and the insufficient power of the explosion, it will be a joke.
Because the GBU-31 bomb has a maximum launch range of 15 kilometers, the distance of the B-2 bomber's gliding bomb is often close to that of the opposing warship, and even if it is 30 kilometers or 60 kilometers, the gliding bomb is still giving away people's heads. The B-2 does have excellent stealth performance, but let's not forget that Chinese warships are generally equipped with active phased array radars capable of staring at targets, and there are dual-band radars on the 055, and even meter-wave radars on the 052D, all of which are capable of spotting the high-flying B-2 at great distances. In this case, such a flying platform, which is extremely poorly maneuverable, will be shot down quickly, and there will be almost no fluke.
The second problem is that the gliding bomb itself flies too slowly, and it is not stealthy, and for an opponent with strong air defense and electronic warfare capabilities, the penetration capability is extremely poor. The modified version of the GBU-31 guided bomb, which flies at a speed of no more than Mach 0.75, is huge, and once the GPS is interfered with, the accuracy of the attack itself is insufficient. Such a flight speed, even if 16 missiles are dropped at the same time, may not be able to break through the modern air defense system possessed by Chinese warships.
Are you even more curious: why didn't the B-2 throw 16 anti-ship missiles to improve its own security? The answer is no, and this is one of the main reasons why the US military needs to step up the development of the B-21.
The sinking of the "Tarawa" by the United States in the RIMPAC exercise was originally intended to establish authority, but the Chinese 815A reconnaissance ship was aware of the tactical dilemma and turned into a humiliating scene. A country's anti-ship combat capability depends to a large extent on the level of missile technology, especially hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles and supersonic missiles, and there must be sufficient quantities. Although the U.S. military's tactical innovation reflects its consideration of cost and efficiency to a certain extent, it has not found an effective means to effectively counter China's maritime power.