Exercise Formidable Shield: An Enduring Legacy of Learning in Integrated Air and Missile Defense​

By Admiral James G. Foggo, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

From now until the end of May, a particularly important, bi-annual missile defense exercise is unfolding in the North Atlantic. Called “Formidable Shield,” its origins date back to 2014. Let me give you some background on how this came to be.

While awaiting confirmation for my nomination to be the Commander of Sixth Fleet during the summer of 2014, I made the rounds inside the beltway, talking to as many influencers as possible that had equities in the maritime domain of the European theater. One of these influencers was my friend, VADM Jim Syring, USN (ret.), who at the time, was the Director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Jim had enormous responsibility for homeland defense and integrated air and missile defense around the globe. MDA also had a generous budget of around $8 billion.

What was scheduled to be a 30-minute meeting over coffee with VADM Syring, at MDA Headquarters at Fort Belvoir, turned into 90 minutes. He provided me with a great tutorial on the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA), which is a missile defense system designed to intercept ballistic missiles from countries like Iran that may threaten European capitals. During my time as Commander Sixth Fleet, MDA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would be installing the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense facility in Deveselu, Romania, on a former Warsaw Pact air base, before turning it over to me.

Suffice it to say that VADM Syring and I had a lot to talk about. At the end of the conversation he said, there is one more thing…I’ve been thinking about doing a live-fire demonstration of the world’s greatest ballistic missile interceptor, the SM-3 Blk IA missile produced by Raytheon. What do you think?

There had never been a live demonstration of the SM-3 in the European theater. It was in the U.S. interest to bring the Europeans onboard with their own missile defense and a demonstration of this type would attract a lot of interest on both sides of the pond. This was not going to be an easy lift for MDA, however. Finagling the launch of an SM-3 overseas required enormous coordination on the part of not just MDA, but DOD, State and NATO. Furthermore, Congress would have to be convinced because the SM-3 is an expensive bullet at $10 million per round.

I had a really good feeling about the live fire demonstration, and I told Jim Syring to count me in as a partner. I have always been a huge fan of Kevin Costner and his motion picture, Field of Dreams —”If you build it, they will come…” and so they did. We jumped through all the hoops to make this happen by the summer of 2015. The exercise would be named “Formidable Shield” and invitations were submitted to Allies and partners who were interested in missile defense. The exercise would be held on the Hebrides Range off the coast of Scotland in the United Kingdom. Nine countries and ten ships signed on to take part in the exercise, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain.

From my arrival in 2014 to the start of Exercise Formidable Shield in 2015, we had the time to stand up Commander Task Force 64, for Integrated Air and Missile Defense, and install Captain Jeff Wolstenholme, an accomplished surface warfare officer, as the first Commodore. On game day, Jeff was the Officer in Tactical Control (OTC) of the exercise. There were a lot of moving parts and Jeff did not get a lot of sleep while embarked on the firing unit, a U.S. Navy Burke-class destroyer.

There were some interesting firsts in Formidable Shield 2015. The SM-3 interceptor works at high altitude or the “upper tier” of the atmosphere. We needed a target with a ballistic missile trajectory, launched from land in the Hebrides. Believe it or not, there had never been a ballistic missile fired from the island of Great Britain. I found that extraordinary because of the pounding the British people took during the famous “Blitz” in World War II, spearheaded by the Nazi’s infamous V-1 “Buzz” Bomb, followed by the more sophisticated and lethal V-2 rocket.

Fortuitously, on game day, both the First Sea Lord, Admiral George Zambelas, and the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, were in Naples for visits and meetings with counterparts. In fact, both leaders would join me for a Trafalgar Night celebration later that day. As Fleet Commander, I was in communication with Commodore Wolstenholme and not surprisingly, we were experiencing typical UK dreary weather and a number of interfering contacts down range. We got the shot off late in the afternoon and the target was destroyed. I brought good news to both Chiefs of Navy at Trafalgar night. In the spirit of Lord Nelson, this was a big victory for MDA, the U.S. Navy, the Sixth Fleet, the United Kingdom, and all our participating partners and allies. Admiral Zambelas expressed his great pleasure at the outcome and let me know that Formidable Shield probably saved the Hebrides Range from extinction. A win-win all around.

Subsequent iterations of the bi-annual Formidable Shield exercise just got bigger and better. In 2017, according to Rear Admiral Paul Bennett, RN, “Formidable Shield 2017 marks a step change from an exercise we did two years ago…We’ve got more credible targets, a more complex maritime task group and we are stepping up to ensure that we’re able to test our NATO task groups to the Nth degree.” Furthermore, the UK MOD made an investment of 60 million pounds in upgrades to the Hebrides Range. Admiral Zambelas was right!

I am proud of the fact that we have continued to participate in Exercise Formidable Shield every other year since 2015! The exercise has continued to grow in participation and complexity. There are more ships, more targets, and more serials every year. Together, we are learning to protect the land from ballistic missile attack while protecting units at sea against cruise missile attack. That is the essence of Integrated Air and Missile Defense, and it is underscored by the events in Ukraine and the sinking of the Russian Flagship Moskva in the Black Sea. As a Plankowner in Formidable Shield 2015, I look forward to a great After-Action Report from Formidable Shield 2023. Andiamo!

Admiral James G. Foggo, U.S. Navy (ret.), is the Dean of the Center for Maritime Strategy. Admiral Foggo is the former commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa, and Allied Joint Force Command, Naples. He commanded BALTOPs in 2015 and 2016 as well as Exercise Trident Juncture in 2018.