The NCI Agency recently completed support for Exercise Formidable Shield 2017, a 24-day multinational live-fire Integrated Air and Missile Defence exercise conducted in the North Atlantic.
Spearheaded by an Air Missile Defence Command and Control project team under funding from the US Navy, elements from across the Agency provided essential support, connecting forces during exercise integration and execution. This support allowed NATO naval forces to focus on exercising weapons and tactics in a realistic environment.
The NCI Agency validated the latest NATO Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) architecture while leveraging the rare opportunity to observe a cooperative live BMD engagement involving Dutch and American ships.
After the Dutch De Ruyter frigate provided an initial track on the ballistic missile target, the USS Donald Cook engaged and destroyed it with a SM-3 interceptor. This premier event occurred in a unique Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) context: Spain's frigate and the Dutch Tromp frigate were simultaneously engaging three anti-ship cruise missile targets.
Besides the primary BMD intercept, three other FS 17 events provided participating NATO Nations with opportunities to engage subsonic and supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles with live interceptors.
Nations contributed more than 14 ships, 10 aircraft and approximately 3,300 personnel from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.
Headquarters Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) conducted FS 17 on behalf of the US 6th Fleet.
HQ Air Command (AIRCOM), HQ Maritime Command (MARCOM) and STRIKFORNATO followed the event using systems supported by the Agency: Air Command and Control System, Air Command Control and Information Services, Integrated Command and Control System (ICC) and LSID.