German Frigate Hessen Shoots Down Two Houthi Drones In Red Sea After Friendly Fire Near Miss
The German frigate Hessen shot down two drones belonging to Yemen’s Houthis in the Red Sea on February 27, after it nearly shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper in the area that did not have its identification friend-or-foe transponder turned on earlier.
The near miss was confirmed by Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Wednesday, saying during a visit to a Bundeswehr base in Oberviechtach that the frigate had launched missiles at a drone that turned out to be not hostile during the incident, but both missed.
According to Pistorius, the Hessen sighted and intercepted the first Houthi drone at around 8PM German time. 15 minutes later, a second one was shot down after it was detected heading towards the frigate.
A spokesperson for the German defense ministry told the Frankfurter Allgemeine that the Hessen had contacted allied forces in the region to confirm whether they had any unreported drones over the Red Sea, only to learn after the miss that they had not been informed of the Reaper’s presence.
Pistorius’ comments followed a report in Augen geradeaus! that the Hessen had used two SM-2 Standard missiles in the failed attempt to shoot down the MQ-9, with the publication’s sources saying that both missiles suffered unspecified “technical” failures.
Another German defense ministry spokesperson told Augen geradeaus! that the Hessen used its 76mm main gun to shoot down one of the Houthi drones, with the other drone shot down using the frigate’s Rolling Airframe Missile close-in weapon system.
Hessen is in the Red Sea as part of Germany’s contribution to the European Union’s Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) Operation ASPIDES, setting sail for the Red Sea on February 8.
Operation ASPIDES is the European Union’s counterpart to the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardians, with both operations seeing the deployment of naval assets to the Red Sea to safeguard merchant shipping from Houthi attacks that have been ongoing since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas in October 2023.