A German warship participating in Europe’s anti-Yemen coalition in the Red Sea mistakenly fired on a US MQ-9 Reaper drone on Monday, German media reported.
The frigate Hesse, which was involved in the incident, had travelled to the Red Sea earlier this month to interfere with pro-Palestinian operations in Yemen. According to German weekly Der Spiegel, the warship fired two missiles at the aircraft, but both projectiles fell into the sea due to a “technical defect.”
The German warship opened fire after attempts to identify the unidentified drone “proved unsuccessful”, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said, adding that the target “was not hit”. It later emerged that it was a “reconnaissance drone”, he said.
The drone was apparently unrelated to the United States-led naval coalition, which is similarly operating in the Red Sea to counter Yemeni operations.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper said that “it is common knowledge that US combat drones are being used in the region, which have nothing to do with the US-led operation in the Red Sea”.
Spiegel reported that military officials believe the incident shows that coordination between allies involved in various missions in the region around Yemen “needs to be improved.”
Yemen’s armed forces have been attacking Israeli ships or vessels travelling to ports in the occupied territories to protest Israel’s October war on the Gaza Strip, which killed some 30,000 Palestinians.
