A ROYAL Navy warship has shot down a ballistic missile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels for the primary time.
HMS Diamond unleashed its devastating Sea Viper system to blast the missile out of the sky, Grant Shapps informed The Instances.
It was the primary time in additional than three many years that British warships had engaged an enemy missile in anger.
The Sort 45 air defence destroyer was defending a service provider vessel attacked within the Crimson Sea on Wednesday.
The vessel has shot down a number of drones together with seven in a single evening in January.
But it surely was the primary time a Royal Navy warship has shot down a ballistic missile since 1991, in the course of the first Gulf Struggle.
Shapps mentioned: “A business ship got here beneath assault by a ballistic missile and HMS Diamond shot down that missile utilizing Sea Viper.”
Every Sea Viper missile prices over £1million.
Shapps mentioned the assault proved how harmful the world had turn out to be.
He mentioned insurgent teams just like the Houthis had been bristling with “very refined weapons” from sponsors similar to Iran.
He claimed the incident proved that Rishi Sunak was proper to ramp up spending on defence to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030.
Shapps added: “That offers a sign of a modified world and why the two.5 per cent is so very important.”
HMS Diamond deployed to the Crimson Sea alongside a US service group to guard service provider delivery and Israel from Iran-backed assaults.
It could monitor a whole bunch of objects the dimensions of a tennis ball from a whole bunch of miles away with its iconic Samson radar.
Houthi rebels are armed with Iran’s Fateh missiles which might attain over 400 miles.
The Houthis boasted yesterday that that they had focused the Maersk Yorktown ship and an American warship destroyer within the Gulf of Aden.
HMS Diamond fired Sea Viper missiles and its shut in Phalanx machine weapons to shoot down a number of drones earlier than rotating with frigate HMS Richmond.
The smaller UK warship shot down a pair of drones utilizing its smaller Sea Ceptor missiles.
The Houthis have launched greater than 50 assaults on delivery, seized one vessel and sank one other since November, which they are saying are in help of Palestinians amid the continuing struggle in Gaza.
THE Houthi rebels are terrorising the Crimson Sea by launching persistent missile and drone assaults on vessels and warships – however who’re they?
The Shia militant group, which now controls most of Yemen, spent over a decade being largely ignored by the world.
Nonetheless, for the reason that outbreak of the Israel-Gaza struggle they sprung from relative obscurity to holding roughly £1trillion of world commerce hostage – turning one of many world’s busiest delivery lanes into an lively warzone.
Their warped slogan is “Dying to America, Dying to Israel, curse the Jews and victory to Islam”.
Why are they attacking ships?
The insurgent group has been launching relentless drone and missile assaults on any ships – together with warships – they deem to be related with Israel in solidarity with their ally, Hamas.
Nonetheless, in actuality there have been frequent assaults on business vessels with little or no hyperlink to Israel – forcing international sea visitors to halt operations within the area and sending delivery costs hovering.
The ocean assaults have threatened to ignite a full-blown struggle within the Center East as intense ripples from Israel’s struggle in Gaza are felt throughout the area – with Iran suspected of stoking the chaos.
Houthi assaults within the Crimson Sea elevated 50 per cent between November and December because the insurgent group’s chiefs pledged their assaults would proceed till Israel stopped its offensive in Gaza.
And regardless of repeated threats from the West and joint US and UK strikes blitzing their strongholds in Yemen – Iran’s emboldened terror proxy seems undeterred.