NATO’s current approach to air and missile defense prioritizes domestic politics and economic interests over allied cooperation and interoperability. The allies can do more to integrate their air defenses into a stronger, collective architecture.
On May 16, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) arrived at its new homeport in Rota, Spain, replacing USS Carney (DDG 64) in the Navy’s forward rotation. In a release, the Navy said the destroyer brings “top-of-the line capabilities” to the NATO’s missile defenses, introducing the Aegis Baseline 9/Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) 5.1...
On November 22, U.S. officials stated that NATO warships successfully engaged live and simulated ballistic and cruise missile threats during Exercise Formidable Shield in May. During the exercise, ships shared targeting information through an alliance-wide datalink and shot down supersonic targets with Aster 15 and Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM). Speaking to the American Society...
Tensions with Iran are once again increasing. The slow implosion of the nuclear accord, Iran’s harassment of cargo ships, and the downing of a U.S. unmanned aircraft have made plain the risk of conflict between Iran and the United States. The dispute should also draw attention to the questionable preparedness of the United States and...
Tensions with Iran are once again high, making plain the risk of unexpected conflict between Iran and the United States. In the event of such a conflict, the United States would likely rely heavily on regional missile defense architectures like the European Phased Adaptive Approach, or EPAA, designed to protect NATO from ballistic missile attacks...
From May 7-19, NATO ships engaged in live-fire air and missile defense drills off the coast of Scotland. Known as Formidable Shield, the exercise integrated ships from the United States, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom to test allied interoperability. Forces included 13 ships, 10 aircraft, and over 3,300...
On November 19, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that the U.S. State Department approved three missile and precision-guided munitions sales, two to Japan and one to NATO, totaling $944 million. The first $561 million sale to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) will include eight SM-3 missiles and 13 SM-3 Block IIA missiles....
On August 7, an Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) was fired from a Spanish-flown Eurofighter 2000 jet during a NATO exercise over Estonia. The incident occurred near the Russian border, and the missile is believed to have crashed approximately 40 km north of Tartu, in eastern Estonia. Spanish Eurofighter jets are suspended from further participation...
According to a U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command press release on July 5, “The NATO Seasparrow Project Office recently conducted a successful flight test of the Evolved Seasparrow Missile […] Block 2 [ESSM Blk 2], successfully intercepting a BQM-74E aerial target”. The July 5 test was the first demonstration of the missile’s active guidance seeker-head...
On November 30, Romania signed an official Letter of Offer and Acceptance to receive U.S. Patriot Advanced Configuration-3+ (PAC-3) air and missile defense systems. Approved by the U.S. State Department on July 11, the $3.9 billion sale will include: seven Patriot Advanced Configuration-3+ firing units, 56 Patriot MIM-104E Guidance Enhanced Missile-TBM (GEM-T) missiles and 168...
