The U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency, supported by Lockheed Martin, successfully completed a series of tests of the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) 4.0.3 Aegis Combat System in the Atlantic Ocean.
The agency completed the tests as part of Formidable Shield 2017 (FS-17), a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercise that aims to demonstrate air and missile defense systems and improve allied interoperability related to those systems, using NATO command-and-control reporting structures and datalink architecture.
In one event, a U.S. Navy ship using the BMD 4.0.3 Aegis Combat System completed a simulated SM-3 Blk IB TU engagement of a live short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) target using remote track data provided by a Spanish F-100 class ship. In the same event, another U.S. Navy ship, operating with the Baseline 9.C1 integrated air and missile defense capability, launched SM-2 missiles against cruise missile targets while, at the same time, tracking the SRBM.
In another event, a U.S. Navy ship operating with the BMD 4.0.3 Aegis Combat System successfully intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target with an SM-3 Blk IB TU.
“The tests show how flexible and versatile the Aegis Combat System is with other international navies around the world,” Jim Sheridan, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Naval Combat & Missile Defense Systems, said. “Working with our allied nations and the U.S. Navy depicts the interoperability of the Aegis Combat System with other disparate systems in an integrated air and missile defense environment.”