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On Tuesday, May 9, it was reported that the Pentagon is taking the first steps to provide Guam with a persistent, 360-degree missile defense system against Chinese and North Korean attack, according to Missile Defense Agency director Vice Adm. Jon Hill who told a Senate panel Tuesday. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, Hill said environmental assessments of a dozen or so sites selected by the agency and the Army are underway.
Also on Tuesday, the US confirmed that the Ukrainian military shot down the Russian Kinzhal missile using the Patriot air defense system. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said “I can confirm that they did down a Russian missile by employing the Patriot missile defense system,” and “As you know, that system is part of a broader range of air defense capabilities that the United States and the international community have provided to Ukraine.”
On Wednesday, May 10, U.S. Sixth Fleet and Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) issued a press release on exercise Formidable Shield 2023 in the High North and North Atlantic Ocean, which started on May 8, 2023. From May 8 to 26, exercise Formidable Shield demonstrates Allied interoperability in a live-fire joint and combined Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) environment, using NATO command and control structures. Thirteen NATO and Partner nations, more than 20 ships and 35 aircraft, eight ground units consisting of radars, National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), and approximately 4,000 personnel from across the Alliance are training alongside.
On Thursday, May 11, it was reported that a Chinese naval flotilla led by a powerful destroyer has been on a 12-day circumnavigation of Japan’s main islands in a display of military power as tensions simmer over Taiwan and as Japan prepares to host G7 leaders next week. Japan’s Defense Ministry on Thursday released a map showing the Type 055 guided missile destroyer Lhasa, one of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s most powerful warships, leading a four-ship flotilla that also included a smaller destroyer, a frigate, and a supply ship on the clockwise circumnavigation.
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