George Washington Conducts SINKEX During Valiant Shield 2026

An F/A-18 Super Hornet, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 195, launches off the flight deck of Nimitz-class carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) to support a live-fire sinking exercise (SINKEX) as part of Valiant Shield 2026 while underway in the Philippine Sea, June 27, 2026. The exercise targeted the former amphibious transport dock (LPD) ship USS Juneau – which saw action in the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm before decommissioning in 2008 - more than 200 nautical miles off the coast of Guam, and brought together air, surface, and subsurface assets in coordinated strikes, allowing crews to sharpen critical skills in weapons employment and target engagement under realistic conditions that no simulator can fully replicate. Valiant Shield is a biennial, multilateral field training exercise conducted by the U.S. Armed Forces and partner nations in the Western Pacific focusing on joint, cross-combatant integration operating seamlessly across sea, air, land, and cyberspace. Exercises like Valiant Shield allow U.S. Pacific Command the opportunity to integrate forces from all branches of service and with our allies to conduct precise, lethal, and overwhelming multi-dom

Date

2026-06-25

Photographer / author

U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jack Barnell

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

photograph

Original size

4,300 × 2,867 pixels

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