HMS Portland Fires Royal Navy's First Operational Naval Strike Missile During Atlantic Thunder

-

HMS Portland, a Royal Navy Type 23 frigate, near the Nordenskjold Glacier in South Georgia (file photo, 2010).
HMS Portland at sea. The Type 23 frigate conducted the Royal Navy's first operational Naval Strike Missile firing during Exercise Atlantic Thunder. File photo: Royal Navy / Ministry of Defence via Wikimedia Commons (OGL v1.0).

The Royal Navy has confirmed the first operational firings of two of its newest ship-busting missiles, in a landmark joint exercise with the United States in the North Atlantic.

HMS Portland, a Plymouth-based Type 23 frigate, fired a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) at the decommissioned American warship USS Klakring at the MOD Hebrides range off the north-west coast of Scotland. Her Wildcat helicopter, from 815 Naval Air Squadron, followed with the first live firing of an operational Sea Venom missile from a Wildcat against a realistic target. The Navy announced the milestone in an official release on 29 September.

Key facts

  • Ship: HMS Portland (F79), a Type 23 frigate based at Devonport, Plymouth.
  • Aircraft: A Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron, embarked on Portland.
  • Target: The decommissioned US Navy frigate USS Klakring, prepared as a realistic live target.
  • Range: The MOD Hebrides range off the north-west coast of Scotland.
  • Firsts: The first Royal Navy firing of an operational Naval Strike Missile, and the first live firing of an operational Sea Venom from a Wildcat against a representative target.
  • Exercise: Exercise Atlantic Thunder, a joint UK-US maritime strike exercise.

Two firsts on the same range

According to the Royal Navy, Portland's NSM strike was the first time the Fleet has fired an operational Naval Strike Missile. The weapon travels at close to supersonic speeds, skims the surface of the sea to evade detection, and can hit targets more than 100 miles away.

Lieutenant Commander Louise Kirkaldy, Portland's principal warfare officer, called it "a significant milestone for the Royal Navy, demonstrating our ability to deliver credible, modern maritime strike capability".

Petty Officer James Kenyon, the above water warfare specialist who pressed the firing key, said being "the first person to fire war-shot NSM and achieve a hit is a very proud moment, and one that will stay with me for the rest of my career". He described the result as the culmination of more than a year's work bringing the missile into service.

The Wildcat's Sea Venom firing was equally significant. The helicopter crew completed the full "kill chain", detecting, identifying and striking the Klakring, the Navy said. Lieutenant Commander Rhydian Edwards, test and evaluation commander for the maritime aviation strike group, said the firing proved "our ability to execute the full maritime strike kill chain under realistic operational conditions", and that the lessons would directly inform future tactics, training and operational capability.

The two missiles

The Naval Strike Missile is becoming the Fleet's new anti-ship workhorse. It is already in service with the Norwegian, US and Polish navies, and the Royal Navy says it will be a complementary weapon for the Future Cruise Anti-Ship Weapon, the long-range, heavy-duty anti-ship missile that will arm the Navy's next-generation warships, including the Type 26 and Type 31 frigates fitted with the Mk41 vertical launch system.

Sea Venom is a lighter, smarter weapon designed for the Wildcat helicopter. It is built to defeat corvette-sized vessels, or to disable frigates and destroyers and knock them out of a fight. A Wildcat can carry four at a time. The Navy says it can also be used over land and against harbour targets, striking bunkers, buildings and vehicles, which makes it one of the most flexible weapons in the Fleet's inventory.

A joint effort with the United States

Exercise Atlantic Thunder was a combined operation, and American forces struck the Klakring as well. Naval Technology, citing a US Department of War release, reported that the guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius fired an anti-surface variant of the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), and that the recently commissioned Virginia-class submarine USS Massachusetts sank the decommissioned frigate with a Mk 48 torpedo. Air assets in the exercise included US Navy and RAF P-8 maritime patrol aircraft and US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles.

Commander Dafydd Bryden, Portland's commanding officer, said the chance to fire anti-ship missiles at a decommissioned warship was "an important test of our warfighting capability" and proved both the systems and the sailors and aircrew who operate them.

Lieutenant Commander Paul Atkins, the UK's lead project officer for Atlantic Thunder, said the exercise "demonstrated the enduring strength of the UK-US alliance" and strengthened the collective ability of both navies to deter potential adversaries.

What is confirmed and what is not

Confirmed: The Royal Navy has officially confirmed both firings as service firsts, the participants, the target vessel, the range, and the capabilities of both missiles. The US Navy's involvement, including the SM-6 and Mk 48 strikes, is confirmed by Naval Technology via an official US release.

Not yet public: The Navy has not said precisely when each firing took place within the exercise window, nor has it published a damage assessment of the target. The full list of participating units and the total duration of the live-firing serials have not been disclosed either.

What happens next

The Navy says the Sea Venom firing will help develop the tactics, training and understanding of how the missile performs in combat. For NSM, the firing marks a step toward the weapon's full introduction across the Fleet ahead of the arrival of the Future Cruise Anti-Ship Weapon. Exercises like Atlantic Thunder are expected to continue as the main proving ground for the Navy's new generation of anti-ship weapons.

The firings are also a visible signal of intent. With the Fleet regenerating its surface strike capability after years in which the Harpoon missile was retired without an immediate replacement, putting live NSM and Sea Venom rounds into a real ship's hull, even a decommissioned one, demonstrates that the Royal Navy's maritime strike force is back in business.

Sources

  • Royal Navy official news release, "Royal Navy unleashes new ship-busting missiles as ex-US Navy frigate sunk", 29 September 2026: royalnavy.mod.uk
  • Naval Technology, "US Navy conducts SINKEX off UK coast", 29 September 2026: naval-technology.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greenland at the Center of a Transatlantic Power Struggle: Trump, Arctic Militarization, and Europe’s Strategic Dilemma

-
Image
  The Arctic has long been treated as a peripheral theater of global politics—remote, frozen, and diplomatically quiet. That perception no longer holds. Denmark’s decision to send a “substantial contribution” of troops to Greenland following renewed rhetoric from Donald Trump has pushed the island back into the center of transatlantic strategic debate. The move underscores how quickly the Arctic is becoming a zone of military signaling, political coercion, and alliance stress. Trump’s refusal to rule out seizing Greenland , combined with reports that he suggested to Norway’s prime minister that his fixation on the island was linked to being snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize , may sound erratic. Strategically, however, the implications are serious. When such rhetoric is paired with threats of tariffs against opposing states, it blurs the line between economic pressure, personal grievance, and national security policy. European leaders now face a familiar but intensifying dilemm...
Read more

Space Force at 6: How America's Newest Military Branch Quietly Became Essential to Your Daily Life

-
Image
Picture this: you check your phone for directions to work, pay for coffee with your card, and get a weather alert about storms heading your way. What you might not realize is that all of these everyday moments depend on satellites protected by America's youngest military service, the U.S. Space Force . Today marks six years since President Trump signed the Space Force into existence on December 20, 2019 . Back then, many people joked about " Space Farce " and questioned whether we really needed a sixth military branch. Fast-forward to 2024, and it's clear that the 16,000 men and women known as " Guardians " have become the invisible protectors of modern American life. From your morning GPS navigation to the secure communications that keep emergency services running, Space Force quietly safeguards the technology we can't live without. As China and Russia develop new ways to attack satellites, these Guardians work around the clock to keep our space-...
Read more

The Prospect of American Strikes on Iran: Strategic Calculus, Risks, and Regional Consequences

-
Image
  The prospect of American military strikes on Iran rarely emerges in a vacuum. It is usually the product of converging pressures, internal repression, regional power plays, and the credibility of deterrence. Today’s moment fits that pattern with uncomfortable precision. As Iran reels from one of the bloodiest crackdowns in its recent history, the United States once again faces a familiar but perilous question: whether force can reshape Iranian behavior, or whether it would instead accelerate a wider confrontation across the Middle East. Even Ali Khamenei , Iran’s long-standing supreme leader, has been compelled to acknowledge the scale of the violence. Thousands have reportedly been killed during the regime’s suppression of protests, an admission that underscores the severity of the internal crisis. While the demonstrations have been temporarily crushed through fear and force, the unrest has not removed the external pressures facing Tehran. On the contrary, it has sharpened them....
Read more