USNI News:
The United States and NATO partners are wrapping up a three-and-a-half week ballistic missile defense exercise, which included a massive collective self-defense scenario on Sunday.
Ships from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States participated in the Oct. 15 event, during which the ships defended against a ballistic missile and three cruise missiles.
“During the collective self-defense scenario, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) successfully detected, tracked and intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target with a Standard Missile-3 Block IB guided missile,” according to an Oct. 15 Missile Defense Agency news release.
“Simultaneously, the Spanish frigate SPS Alvaro de Bazan (F101) fired an Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) against an incoming anti-ship cruise missile, while the Netherlands frigate HNLMS Tromp (F803) fired ESSMs against a pair of incoming anti-ship cruise missiles. This was the first time NATO’s smart defense concept was demonstrated with ships serving as air defense units protecting naval ballistic missile defense units.”
