The At Sea Demonstration / Formidable Shield 25 (ASD/FS25, from May 3 to 23) exercise took place in the North Sea. This major joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) activity is held every two years, planned by the United States Sixth Fleet and conducted by STRIKFORNATO, a NATO command based in Lisbon. Among the key participants in the exercise —the most significant of its kind in the European context— was the Italian Navy, which deployed the Giovanni delle Bande Nere ship: the first of the Multi-Purpose Combat Ship (MPCS/PPA) units in the “full” configuration, equipped with the most advanced combat systems developed by Leonardo. 

During the exercise, which included a series of live-fire events, the unit successfully employed the SADOC 4, a command and control system with IAMD capabilities, and the Dual Band Radar, an advanced radar suite designed to track ballistic, aerial (including drones and supersonic missiles), and surface threats. 

The results 

Thanks to the capabilities of Leonardo’s command and control system, the ship operated cohesively and effectively with NATO allied forces, making a decisive contribution to the shared situational awareness of the naval force. In particular, the system detected and tracked a short-range ballistic target with its onboard radar suite, maintaining the track and disseminating the data up to the impact point at sea. 

The Bande Nere ship also operated as a “Forward Observer”, autonomously detecting medium-range ballistic missiles launched from both land and naval platforms and sharing the data in real time via tactical link. Leonardo’s Dual Band Radar stood out for its ability to initiate tracking just seconds after launch and to accurately follow the ballistic missile over hundreds of kilometers, even at supersonic speeds. 

During the concluding forum of the exercise, the Italian Navy was acknowledged for having one of the highest IAMD capabilities in the world, thanks to the performance of its sensors and the SADOC 4’s ability to operate and exchange data with the systems of the world’s most technologically advanced units — first and foremost, those of the United States.