(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — The Danish Navy has reportedly failed to deploy the warship “Iver Huitfeldt” for a critical mission in the northern Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, and Baltic Sea after the frigate could not be repaired following “damage” sustained during a mission in the Red Sea earlier last year.
The Danish Navy frigate was supposed to join the NATO warship mission called “Standing Maritime Group One” in those waters from July 11 to November 5.
“We had to ‘change’ the Danish Navy’s contribution to the Standing Maritime Group One due to challenges faced by the Iver Huitfeldt crew during the Red Sea mission, which remain unresolved – we agreed with the recommendation not to deploy the frigate for the ocean mission,” said the country’s defense minister, Troels Lund Poulsen.
While operating in the Red Sea in April this year, the modern Danish Navy warship reportedly encountered serious issues involving its active phased array radar and C-Flex combat management system, significantly impacting the vessel’s overall performance.
“According to communications from the warship’s captain, the problems with these components were so severe that it could not use its air defense system, the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM), for about 30 minutes,” according to a Danish online media report.
The ESSM air defense system protects the warship from threats such as suicide drones or anti-ship missiles.
Additionally, the Iver Huitfeldt frigate faced serious issues with its 76mm cannon, which failed to function in more than one incident during operations.
The failure of these critical systems exposed the modern warship to danger. According to the Danish online media, the captain of the Danish Navy warship reported the problems affecting the critical components of the Iver Huitfeldt frigate, but no solutions were implemented to repair them.
Nevertheless, the warship was sent to an active war zone despite being a “damaged” warship.
Due to these damages, the Iver Huitfeldt frigate was withdrawn from operations in the Red Sea. This withdrawal follows another “unfortunate” incident involving a German warship in the Red Sea.
In February, the German Navy’s Type 124 Sachsen-class frigate “FGS Hessen” reportedly launched a missile from its air defense system in an attempt to shoot down an “unidentified” drone in the Red Sea, which was later identified as belonging to the United States.
The German Navy frigate was fortunate and did not suffer embarrassment as the SM-2 (Standard Missile-2) it launched experienced a technical failure, preventing the attempt to shoot down the “unidentified drone” on February 26.
The “unidentified drone” was later identified by the German Navy as a US
MQ-9 “Reaper” operating in the Red Sea.
The technical failure of the German frigate’s missile saved the German Navy from embarrassment over “misfiring” and causing the destruction of an asset belonging to a friendly military force.
The German Navy frigate “FGS Hessen” was in the Red Sea as part of the European Union’s “Operation Aspides,” launched to counter threats from Houthi groups to merchant ships passing through those waters.
According to reports, after the German warship “FGS Hessen” detected the presence of the “unidentified” drone, it attempted identification with the American military but failed, leading to the launch of the SM-2 missile in an attempt to shoot it down.
Reports from German media “Spiegel” stated that both SM-2 missiles experienced technical issues, preventing them from shooting down the “unidentified drone.” — DSA