During an Oct. 20 at-sea demonstration, Aegis combat system-equipped U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers worked with Norwegian and Spanish frigates to intercept a ballistic missile and cruise missile fired simultaneously at the battle group–the first time the United States military has demonstrated it can work with coalition partners to counter such an attack.
USS Ross (DDG-71), USS Sullivans (DDG-68), Spanish frigate Almirante Juan de Borbón (F-102) and Norwegian frigate HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen (F-310) participated in the exercise, which was part of the At Sea Demo 2015 taking place off the coast of Scotland, said Mary Keifer, Lockheed Martin’s program director for Aegis in service and fleet readiness.
Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom and United States took part in the ASD 15 event, organized by the Maritime Theater Missile Defense Forum.
Photo: Missile Defense Agency
Yesterday’s demonstration showcased the interoperability of Aegis with allied combat systems and provided crucial test data for further development, Keifer said during a Wednesday teleconference with reporters. “During the exercise yesterday, the Aegis-equipped ships rapidly protected and tracked the target and shared fire-control quality track data over linked communications prior to the successful engagement.”
Such exercises could become more important—and more frequent—as ballistic and anti-ship cruise missiles proliferate. Service officials such as former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert have noted that demand for ballistic missile defense (BMD) ships outstrips supply. Partnering with allies and partner nations that have ships and aircraft capable of sharing threat information could pose a solution.
During the demonstration, the Spanish frigate tracked the short-range Terrier Orion ballistic missile target, which had been launched from Hebrides Missile Test Range in Scotland, and relayed a cue to a landbased U.S. test site, Keifer said. The Ross fired a Standard Missile-3 and engaged the ballistic missile in space, while the Sullivans used an Standard Missile-2 to intercept a cruise missile. Nansen took a battle group support role.
The test was the third of four ballistic missile tests.
“In each of the launches, we are testing different link architectures or network arrangements of who is connected to who and how data is distributed,” she said. In an earlier launch, the Borbón tracked the path of the missile and relayed data directly to a U.S. ship. The final ballistic missile test is planned for tomorrow and involves tracking, but not intercepting, the missile.
In an actual battle scenario, the Spanish frigate would not have been able to track a ballistic missile. The Borbón is equipped with an Aegis combat system, but “it’s a very incomplete capability” in comparison to the Navy’s ballistic missile defense-capable destroyers, Keifer said. For the demonstration, Lockheed Martin performed software modifications to the radar and other ship systems to allow the Borbón to track a ballistic missile and transmit that data to the United States.
“It’s not a complete implementation of BMD by any means, but it was an opportunity to show that the infrastructure and the basic capabilities are not beyond reach for Spain,” she said.
Although the tests were successful, for Lockheed Martin the real “lessons learned will occur after the demonstrations, when the company will comb through the data and evaluate whether the performance of the Aegis combat system can be improved.
“Even though we felt everything was very effective in the actual concept of the exercise, the data becomes the ultimate proof to show us that it was effective as we thought it was,” Keifer said.