Ships from nine NATO countries are taking part in live-fire air and missile defence drills off the coast of Scotland.
The exercise has been running since the 7th of May.
Exercise Formidable Shield will take place at the United Kingdom’s Hebrides training range, in the Western Isles of Scotland and will run until the 19th of May.
“Formidable Shield shows how Allies are working together to protect NATO forces and populations from the real threat of ballistic missiles”, said NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu.
“This is one of the world’s most sophisticated and complex air and missile defence exercises and a great example of how Allies are continuing to adapt to meet current and future security challenges.”
The exercise will see NATO warships detecting, tracking and defending against an array of anti-ship and ballistic missiles using NATO command and control procedures. Drills will include sharing real time tactical information, conducting joint mission planning, and engagement coordination.
Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States will participate by sending ships and aircraft.Belgium and Germany will support the exercise with staff officers. A total of 13 ships, 10 aircraft, and about 3,300 personnel are involved.
Maritime patrol aircraft and NATO AWACS surveillance aircraft will provide aerial over-watch and ensure that the airspace is clear.
Formidable Shield will cover a huge area in the North Atlantic – from more than 1,000 km west of the Scottish Hebrides, and from the south of Ireland to the southern end of Iceland.
Hmm I didn’t know we had anti balistic missile missiles, or most of the nations training.
Below is a link to a Qinetiq PR video for Formidable Shield 2017. That exercise was the first time the UK had launched a test ballistic missile which the US Navy shot down when it was reaching the upper atmosphere, I think it was 100,000ft. The exercise has developed into a Red Flag equivalent where both air and naval assets are tested against realistic threats. It was last year that SeaCeptor managed to shoot down a subsonic and supersonic targets consecutively.
https://www.qinetiq.com/news/2017/11/formidable-shield-concludes-following-series-of-successes
I’m expecting the Dutch Navy to test their anti-ballistic missile tracking capability, as I don’t believe they have the SM2-ER missiles yet.
The Daring class has an anti ballistic missile capability with its Aster missile suite.
It does not, the vessel carries no missile with that capability.