Exercise Formidable Shield 2025 In Full Swing

Eleven Allied nations are currently participating in Exercise Formidable Shield 2025, the largest naval live-fire manoeuvres set to be conducted in the European theatre this year.

Led by U.S. 6th Fleet and carried out via STRIKFORNATO, the alliance’s Naval Striking and Support Forces, the exercise has been running since May 3 in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic Ocean and is scheduled to end on May 25.

Land-based elements of the exercise are being staged on the island of Andoya, Norway, and there will also be a live-fire exercise on the Hebrides islands off the coast of Scotland.

Formidable Shield 2025 includes an at-sea demonstration and a series of live-fire events against unmanned air and surface systems, subsonic, supersonic, and ballistic targets.

This year’s iteration of the biennial exercise involves more than 16 ships and 27 aircraft, as well as eight ground units including National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) air-defence and missile systems.

Roughly 6,900 personnel are involved from the NATO members participating: they are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S., with Australia also providing radar sensors for data collection.

Among the ships taking part are Norwegian vessels KNM Gnist and KNM Magnus Lagabøte; Spanish frigate ESPS Blas De Lezo — the flagship for the exercise — and logistics vessel ESPS Patina; American destroyers USS Arleigh Burke and USS Oscar Austin; U.K. Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon; Dutch frigate HNLMS Tromp; French frigates FS Bretagne and FS Normandie; and Danish frigate HDMS Espen Snare. Air assets taking part include Norwegian F-35s and Eurofighters from the U.K.

“There is simply no substitute for the training and learning that occurs when we operate in these intensely realistic scenarios,” said Capt. Michael Dwan, Commander, Task Group 154.64 and STRIKFORNATO’s U.S. Maritime Ballistic Missile Defense Assets Advisor.

“Training as a collective using NATO command and control reporting structure forges the bonds of interoperability and strengthens the alliance as a whole.”

He described exercises such as Formidable Shield as “critical for refining our collective integrated air and missile defense capabilities, ensuring we can respond effectively to any threat from any direction and maintain a credible deterrent posture.”

Vidar Skjelstad, VP Strategic campaigns at Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, which makes the NASAMS system, remarked: “Formidable Shield allows us to validate key capabilities in real-world scenarios alongside NATO partners.

“The data and operational insight we gain from this is extremely valuable for continued development and integration. These are systems built for exactly this kind of mission – protecting forces, infrastructure and people against airborne threats.”

• You can read more details about the exercise on the U.S. Navy website, the NATO website, the Norwegian Armed Forces website, and the Kongsberg website