The HMS Diamond intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile in the Gulf of Aden, the first time a British warship shot down a missile in actual combat since 1991.
Central Command (CENTCOM), the unit in charge of US military operations in the Middle East, announced on April 24 that a coalition warship had shot down a ballistic missile of the Houthi armed group in Yemen.
The Houthi target was believed to be the US-flagged cargo ship Yorktow in the Gulf of Aden, but the missile was intercepted and caused no damage or casualties. This was the Houthi’s first attack on the Red Sea and surrounding areas in more than a week.
British Defense Minister Grant Shapps on April 25 confirmed that the country’s warship HMS Diamond was the vehicle that fired to intercept the Houthi missile. “Diamond has become the first Royal Navy ship to shoot down a missile in real combat conditions since 1991,” he wrote on social network X.
The moment HMS Diamond fired a missile to intercept the Houthi attack on April 24. Image: British Navy
During the 1991 Gulf War, the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Gloucester launched a series of Sea Dart rounds to destroy Silkworm anti-ship missiles launched by Iraq at US warships.
The incident on April 24 was also the first time a British warship shot down a ballistic missile on the battlefield. It is unclear what weapons the Houthis used, but this force has launched many types of missiles and suicide drones (UAVs) originating from Iran against cargo ships and warships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden from last year.
Long-range ballistic missiles are usually launched at a high angle, beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, make a mid-phase journey in space, then re-enter the atmosphere. During the reentry phase, the missile warhead will accelerate and reach an extremely high speed, about 6-8 km/s, when entering the target, so it is very difficult to be effectively intercepted in the final phase.
The anti-ship ballistic missile launched by the Houthis is believed to have a short range and smaller size, and does not fly out of the atmosphere. However, the projectile still reached high enough velocity in the final phase to cause difficulties for coalition warships if they were not equipped with appropriate anti-aircraft missiles.
British media said the destroyer HMS Diamond fired Aster 30 missiles from the Sea Viper air defense system to shoot down the Houthi projectile. The Sea Viper complex is capable of detecting and tracking cruise missiles, fighter jets and UAVs at a distance of 400 km and destroying them within a range of about 110 km.
HMS Diamond in a photo posted in December 2023. Image: British Navy
HMS Diamond is the third warship of the Type 45 class, once described by British naval officials as “the best air defense destroyer in the world”. It was deployed to the Red Sea last December, to join a force led by the US Navy to counter Houthi raids on international shipping lanes in the sea.
The armed group declared this a move to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli army launched an operation in the territory.
Before first destroying ballistic missiles on April 24, HMS Diamond repeatedly took down Houthi suicide UAVs with the Sea Viper system or 30 mm close-range naval guns.
Location Red Sea, Gulf of Aden. Graphics: Wikipedia
Pham Giang (According to Business Insider, Telegraph, NDTV)
