Incredible double accident for the German Navy off the coast of Yemen. As reported by Bild, which describes the incident as “embarrassing” on Monday night, a drama unfolded around the frigate “Hessen”, which is on a mission in the Red Sea.
The German warship’s radar systems mistakenly identified a drone circling overhead as hostile.
The Hessen then fired two missiles at it. In reality, however, the drone was an American MQ-9 Reaper drone (wingspan of 20 metres, costing 30 million euros). Fortunately for the Americans, the two German SM2 interceptor missiles failed to reach their target for technical reasons and crashed into the sea without hitting anything.
The Reaper drone was flying at an altitude of 12,000 metres. The maximum operational altitude of the German SM-2 anti-aircraft missile is over 20,000 metres.
A US military MQ-9 Reaper drone
Defense Ministry spokesman Michael Stebble confirmed Wednesday that the drone that was targeted and fired upon could not initially be attributed to any of the allied states.
Hesse then attempted to shoot down the drone, but was unsuccessful. “The case has been cleared up as it was not a drone that was hostile, as it only turned out afterwards,” he said.
Stempfle did not say to which country the drone was subsequently attributed.
However, military analyst Thomas Wiegold revealed the drone’s origin and type.
A spokesman for the German Federal Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that a query had been made by “Hesse” to allied states before the launch without receiving confirmation.
Only later did it emerge that it was an undeclared drone.
It is known that US military drones are travelling in the area and have nothing to do with the operation in the Red Sea.
Meanwhile, Florian Hahn (CSU), defense policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German parliament, warns of a possible ammunition problem:
“We have just now learned on request that some of the ammunition of the frigate ‘Hessen’ can apparently no longer be replenished because the corresponding industrial capacity no longer exists,” the politician told the WELT newspaper.
🚨🚨🚨 | BREAKING
The #German Navy’s first real combat operation after WW2 begins with an embarrassment
The German frigate Hessen mistakenly attacked a #US MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Red Sea, but the missiles malfunctioned before hitting the drone pic.twitter.com/CtXAYqfCzZ
— Southern Africa Eye (@eye_southern) February 28, 2024
“So if the stocks are empty, the navy can no longer replenish them – and must withdraw the frigate,” Hahn added.
Concerns about the frigate’s capabilities as well.
Meanwhile, Florian Hahn (CSU), the defense policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, warned of a possible ammunition problem on the frigate.
“We have just now learned on request that some of the ammunition on the frigate ‘Hessen’ can apparently no longer be replenished because the corresponding industrial capacity no longer exists,” the politician told the WELT newspaper.
“So if the stocks are empty, the navy can no longer replenish them – and has to withdraw the frigate,” Hahn added. The defence expert accused the ruling coalition of hiding this fact from the opposition for months.
“The parliament therefore decided on the deployment without knowing that there is obviously a problem with the 124-class frigate’s ammunition,” Hahn said.
