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As part of the ongoing At-Sea-Demo / Formidable Shield 2021 exercise, the U.S. Navy Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) fired two Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors to engage ballistic missile targets launched from the Hebrides Range, May 26 and May 30, 2021.

“Today marks the dawn of a new day for maritime Ballistic Missile Defense and the seamless integration of combatant capability provided by the international naval forces of Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO),” said Commander Task Group, Integrated Air and Missile Defense, Capt. Jonathan D. Lipps.

In a groundbreaking cooperative engagement, the Royal Netherlands Navy’s HNLMS De Zeven Provincien (F802) employed its advanced combat system suite to provide an early warning ballistic track to the maritime task group. Upon receipt of this track information, Paul Ignatius was able to calculate a firing solution to launch an SM-3 Blk IA and negate the threat. This highly technical level of interoperability is key to missile defense – a demonstration of the capability to fully integrate Allies into what was previously a capability singularly shouldered by the United States…

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