The amphibious assault ship USS America fires a RIM-116 rolling airframe missile while underway in the Philippine Sea, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. (U.S. Navy)

The USS America “detected, tracked and engaged a target” with an RIM-116 rolling airframe missile this week in the Philippine Sea, an exercise the Navy says was aimed at keeping the amphibious assault ship’s crew ready for warfighting.

The RIM-116 is a low-cost, lightweight, quick-reaction, “fire-and-forget” weapon designed to destroy anti-ship cruise missiles and other air and surface threats, according to the Navy’s website.

"The missile was launched at an incoming drone meant to simulate an anti-ship cruise missile to test the ship's surface-to-air defense systems and reinforce the crew's warfighting readiness,” the ship’s spokesman, Lt. Beau Nickerson, told Stars and Stripes by email Thursday.

Only one missile was fired during Tuesday’s exercise, which took place “in the vicinity of Okinawa,” he added.

The exercise came about two weeks after China conducted a series of naval drills, including a large-scale combat strike exercise on Jan. 9 in the Taiwan Strait. During those drills, Chinese forces sent 57 aircraft and four ships into the strait toward Taiwan, which is less than 400 nautical miles from Okinawa, according to the island’s Ministry of National Defense.

The America’s operations officer, Cmdr. Avery Wilson, said Tuesday’s exercise showed off his team’s ability to work together, coordinating across multiple departments, to execute a mission safely and effectively.

"We demonstrated that through the hard work of our technicians and logistics support, our equipment is fully operational and our watch-standers in the Combat Information Center are trained and prepared for any threat," she said in a Navy press release Tuesday.

The USS America, along with Amphibious Squadron 11 and the USS Green Bay amphibious transport dock ship, have been at sea since Jan. 8 for a routine patrol of the region, Nickerson said.