 Austal USA vice president Craig Hooper has responded to critics of the class's light armament by suggesting that the ships employ long range drones instead.On 19 July 2016, while participating in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, "Coronado" was used to conduct a live-fire missile test of a Block 1C Harpoon anti-ship missile.While the missile failed to destroy its target, the test validated the ability to launch high-powered missiles from the forward deck of an "Independence"-class vessel, which is expected to lead to deployment of Harpoon missiles on future LCS missions.