US Destroyer Fires SM-3 Anti-Ballistic Missile at NATO Defence Drills - US Navy

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - US destroyer USS Roosevelt, engaged in ongoing NATO missile defence drills, fired an SM-3 missile on Saturday, the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa said.

"#USSRoosevelt fires an SM-3 missile [at] #FormidableShield2019. #FS19 improves allied #interoperability in a live-fire, integrated air and missile defense environment — 9 nations are participating," the American forces wrote on Twitter.

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According to NATO, ships from nine members of the organisation — the United States, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom — are taking part in the live-fire air and missile defence drills, titled Formidable Shield (FS).

The exercise started on 7 May and will run until 19 May off the coast of Scotland. During the drills, in which 13 ships, 10 aircraft and around 3,300 staff are involved, allies rehearse detecting, tracking and defending against a variety of anti-ship and ballistic missiles using NATO command and control procedures.

The drills come after US President Donald Trump presented in March a renewed missile defence strategy, which took into consideration new challenges, including alleged threats coming from Russia. The strategy envisioned, among other things, that US missile defence capacities in Romania and Poland would receive a new modification of the SM-3 anti-ballistic missile, enabling interception outside the Earth's atmosphere.