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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Sean Murphy

Moment rocket is fired during NATO exercises on South Uist caught on camera

An epic video has shown the moment a rocket is fired into the sky as part of the joint-NATO exercises around the Western Isles.

The clip shows the launch from the military bases on the island of South Uist with the missile being fired as part of a live-fire integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) exercise.

Ten nations are taking part in the naval exercise, including the likes of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

One islander told the Daily Record that the community is kept well informed of when the launches will take place and everything was carried out safely.

The missile launching from the base at Rangehead (Contributed)

They also stated that on clearer days that you can see the missiles from the Rangehead launch pads on the west coast of the island at West Gerinish going up into the atmosphere, with some even creating "spectacular" sonic booms.

They added that the exercises have been going on for the past two months and that they have been great for the island's economy.

Speaking about the exercises, which take place every two years, deputy commander of STRIKFORNATO, Rear Adm. James Morley, said: “Delivering integrated air and missile defence, and specifically ballistic missile defence, is one of STRIKFORNATO’s primary roles on behalf of the Alliance.

"Exercise At-Sea Demo/Formidable Shield 21 is an important opportunity to further develop fighting capability and domain integration against a challenging set of realistic targets – a demonstration of our resolve to counter the threat.”

Commander, Task Force (CTF) 64, Capt. Jonathan Lipps, commander for the task force, added that fifteen ships from ten nations will track and engage subsonic, supersonic, and ballistic missile targets on and above the Hebrides and Andøya Space Defense Ranges.

Speaking about the safety element, he added: “A rigorous safety analysis was conducted for the area of operation where the exercise will take place. All results that were determined by multiple Allied nations concluded that the risk to surrounding territories will be negligible."

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