The German frigate Hesse attacked an American drone

According to Bundeswehr sources, the German frigate Hesse, which was sent from Germany to the Red Sea to fight the Yemeni Houthis, mistakenly tried to shoot down an American drone on February 26, but the missiles missed it.

The radar systems of a German warship mistakenly identified a drone circling the ship as hostile. The Hesse then fired two missiles towards the American MQ-9 Reaper (wingspan 20 meters, cost 30 million euros). However, both SM2 missiles did not reach the target for technical reasons and fell into the sea.

The Reaper drone can reach an altitude of up to 12,000 meters, while the stated maximum altitude of destruction of the German SM-2 anti-aircraft missile is more than 20,000 meters. German Defense Ministry spokesman Michael Stempfle confirmed that the fired drone could not be identified as a UAV from one of the allied countries. “The case was settled because it was not a hostile drone, as it turned out only later,” Stempfle said.

Against this backdrop, Bundestag member and defense expert Florian Hahn from the CSU warns of a problem with ammunition. “We have just learned by inquiry that some of the ammunition on the frigate Hesse can apparently no longer be replenished, since the corresponding industrial capacity no longer exists. Therefore, when the reserves are empty, the fleet will no longer be able to replenish them and will be forced to withdraw the frigate,” Khan said in an interview with WELT.

Now the German military is urgently trying to figure out why the attack failed. Various versions are expressed, and one of them is that German missiles contain a hidden system that does not allow them to attack American military equipment. It is known that on February 27, a day after the incident with the American drone, the German armed forces successfully shot down two Yemeni Houthi UAVs over the Red Sea.

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