Exercise Formidable Shield 2025, the largest at-sea live-fire air and missile defense exercise in the European theater, ran from May 3 to May 23, 2025, under the leadership of U.S. 6th Fleet and STRIKFORNATO, according to the Navy's May 2025 announcement. Warships from allied navies fired interceptors against subsonic, supersonic, and ballistic targets during the three-week serial, which was conducted alongside the At-Sea Demo format and integrated with British and Italian carrier strike group operations in the Ionian Sea.
Who took part and what did they shoot at?
The exercise brought together allied frigates and destroyers under a integrated air and missile defense architecture, per the Navy's kickoff announcement of May 2025. Target sets ranged from subsonic and supersonic unmanned aerial and surface systems to ballistic missile targets, per the same announcement. NATO AWACS aircraft supported the serial, and the British and Italian carrier strike groups operating together in the Ionian Sea formed part of the exercise framework, per reporting on the combined strike group operations in May 2025. Live-fire events against unmanned air and surface systems were a stated centerpiece of the 2025 edition.
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Why does the exercise matter?
Formidable Shield is the alliance's principal test of whether national ships can pass tracks and engage targets under a common command structure, using Standard missile variants and national systems against instrumented targets. The May 2025 edition followed the heavy interceptor expenditure documented during Red Sea operations in 2023 through 2024 and gave participating crews live engagements against targets replicating the drone and missile threats encountered in that campaign, per the Navy's exercise announcement. The exercise concluded on May 23, 2025, with results feeding subsequent allied air and missile defense doctrine.
How often is the exercise held?
Formidable Shield has run in alternating years since the mid-2010s, with editions documented in 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023 before the May 2025 serial, per Navy and alliance announcements for those exercises. Each edition has grown the target set: earlier iterations concentrated on ballistic missile defense, while the 2025 format added live-fire engagements against unmanned air and surface systems, per the Navy's kickoff announcement. The 2025 edition was also the first to be paired explicitly with an At-Sea Demo format and to be woven into carrier strike group operations in the Ionian Sea, per the same announcement. For participating ships, the exercise consumes interceptors that cannot be replaced quickly, which is why navies treat each serial as both a training investment and a logistics commitment planned years ahead.