US: ‘Irresponsible’ for Iran to Attack Dummy Ship During Military Exercise

Iranian helicopter fired a missile at dummy aircraft carrier

Iran began its latest military exercise in the Strait of Hormuz. Dubbed Prophet Muhammad 14th, the reports from earlier this week of Iran putting a dummy aircraft carrier into the Strait to target proved true, with an Iranian helicopter firing a missile at it.

The dummy aircraft carrier, complete with dummy planes, is made up to look like a US Nimitz class carrier, and attacking such a vessel is likely done for propaganda’s sake, and in recognition that US carriers are often looming off Iran’s coast.

US Navy officials angrily declared it “irresponsible” for Iran to attack the replica aircraft carrier, even though the carrier exists seemingly just to be a dummy target for a live-fire exercise. They did say it hasn’t disrupted any Pentagon operations.

Despite its objection, the US has long favored the use of targeting dummies for its own live-fire exercise, and has often used ships or mock ships to target. In 1946, the US went so far as to drop atomic bombs on a fleet of obsolete warships, testing how much damage the atomic weapons would have on ships.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.