Exercise At-Sea Demonstration/Formidable Shield 21, sponsored by U.S. Sixth Fleet and conducted by Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO), took place May 15 – June 3, 2021 at the U.K. Ministry of Defense's Hebrides Range located on the Western Isles of Scotland, and Andøya Test Center, Andenes, Norway.
The purpose of this exercise was to improve Allied interoperability in a joint live-fire, Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) environment, using NATO command and control reporting structures. Allied nations practiced, demonstrated, and assessed their ability to share common tactical pictures, share situational awareness, conduct NATO-level mission planning and engagement coordination, and exercise force-level pre-planned responses with capabilities and limitations.
The 10 participating nations included Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This exercise was scheduled with NATO and executed with support from U.S. European Command USEUCOM), Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Maritime Theater Missile Defense Forum (MTMD-F) and Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO-IWS). #FormidableShield
