The German Navy's last and largest firing exercise, the Maritime Firing Exercise (MFE), took place off the coast of northern Norway in October 2025. The frigate "Sachsen" (class F124) led the German formation as the flagship and the frigate "Baden-Württemberg" (class F125) was the first ship to prove that the navalised IRIS-T SLM land system also confirms its high hit rate at sea.

marineforum.online reported on "IRIS-T" on 22 October 2025: https://marineforum.online/iris-t-slm-nachruestungsalternativen-f125/ and on 15 October 2025: https://marineforum.online/iris-t-slm-trifft-beim-groessten-schiessvorhaben-der-marine-seit-jahrzehnten/

The two-week exercise was carried out in the proven firing range around the Norwegian archipelago of Andøya in the European Arctic Ocean. The German Navy has been using the firing range regularly for years for test and practice firing with missiles, torpedoes and artillery. The "Andøya Space Defence" firing range is located around 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle and is far away from civilian shipping lanes. Here, the Norwegian and German navies can test their weapons systems without endangering bystanders. This means that each ship is given the proportion of the exercise that corresponds specifically to its capability profile and range. This means that the performance of all weapon systems can be tested in a targeted manner under realistic conditions.

This firing project is not only intended to demonstrate the deterrent capability of Germany and its partners, but also to show that the German Navy is ready to bring its capabilities to bear at any time - regardless of the sea area.

kdk, German Armed Forces