Danish Navy: First SM-2 shot

On 4 May 2022, the Royal Danish Navy made history. The "Nils Juel" fired the test shot in a first-of-class shootout at the Andoya Space Defence Test Centre in Norway. An important step towards the optimal deployment of the three "Iver Huitfeldt" class frigates, it was the first SM-2 ship-to-air missile to be fired from this frigate class. The SM-2 Block IIIA missile, also known as RIM 66, is a medium-range missile with a radar seeker. It is designed to combat anti-ship missiles and aircraft.

The start modules

The three frigates of this class are equipped with mission modules for ship-to-ship and ship-to-air missiles. Four vertical launch systems Mk41 VLS (Vertical Launch System) for the Standard Missile SM 2 Block IIIA ship-to-air missile system are installed between the masts. Four Standard Flex Container positions are available for 24 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), an air defence missile system with a shorter range than SM2, and 16 Harpoon sea target missiles. They can accommodate either the 8-cell Harpoon launcher module Mark 141 or the 12-cell Mark 56 ESSM VLS. Depending on the number of Harpoon launchers installed, up to 24 Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles and 32 SM-2 IIIAs or SM-6s can be carried. In other words, the "Iver Huitfeldt" frigates, whose last unit, the "Nils Juel", was commissioned in November 2011, are designed with future potential. Until now, they have been operating with the defined gap in air defence, which can now be closed. In July 2018, the US State Department confirmed the sale of up to 46 Standard missiles, SM-2 Block IIIA including associated equipment, to Denmark. The cost was stated at 152 million dollars.

The radar system

As on the four Dutch frigates of the "De Zeven Provinciën" class and the three frigates of the "Sachsen" class of the German Navy, a Thales APAR radar is in use on the "Iver Huitfeldt" class. The I-band radar enables air targets to be tracked and missiles to be guided using the ICWI (Interrupted Continuous Wave Illumination) method. The system allows 32 semi-active radar-guided missiles to be guided simultaneously, 16 of which are in the final phase of combat.