Royal Navy: HMS Kent returns home to Portsmouth after two months of Nato exercises and operations

HMS Kent has been away from her home port for the past two months. Alongside HMS Defender, the Type 23 frigate took part in a task group of more than 20 ships and 35 aircraft from 13 Nato allies and partners.

Exercise Formidable Shield put the force through a series of live-fire events against subsonic, supersonic and ballistic targets. HMS Kent also visited Gothenburg in Sweden, and tested her sensors at the Nato ranges near Stavanger in Norway while on deployment.

HMS Defender also tested her missiles, systems, sensors and software during Exercise Formidable Shield. She fired her Sea Viper missile system – the £1bn warship’s primary weapon – during a mission to locate, and destroy a drone designed to be difficult to track and intercept. The drill took place in the area of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.

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Petty Officer Cameron McDonnell controlled the Sea Viper missile fired from Defender against the highly-manoeuvrable drone. He said: ‘We’ve been using experimental hardware and software to push our sensors to the limit, ready for the fight of tomorrow.

‘We’ve tracked ballistic, subsonic and supersonic targets while working with our allies and partners. The final stage saw HMS Defender conduct a live missile engagement against an uncrewed aerial vehicle.’

HMS Defender also pushed the boundaries of her missile and air defence systems. She used a special ‘link’ network to provide target details to an RAF Typhoon and shared a target ‘track’ with frigate HMS Kent, via satellite.

Reflecting on a visit to Formidable Shield last month, minister for defence procurement, James Cartlidge MP, said: ‘Formidable Shield is a hugely important exercise and I was honoured to see first-hand the cooperation between our Allied nations.

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‘Hosted in the Outer Hebrides, and bringing together aircraft, naval ships and more than 4,000 military personnel from 13 NATO nations, Formidable Shield truly demonstrates our effective collaboration in defending and deterring against emerging threats.’

The Royal Navy confirmed will be deployed on future operations. Lieutenant Commander Carl Marin-Ortega, HMS Defender’s weapon engineer officer, said the successful firing during the exercise was crucial for testing the Sea Viper systems.