The German frigate Hessen, which has been deployed in the Red Sea as part of the European operation “ASPIDES”, sailed to the port of Djibouti to be equipped with more missiles and ammunition.

The Hessen frigate has been so equipped to counter air threats in the Red Sea, Germany’s Defence Ministry announced.

The missiles and ammunition were transported from the Bundeswehr warehouses to the airbase in military trucks. From there, they were flown on an A400M transport aircraft to Djibouti.

Die Fregatte „Hessen“ ist bei #EUNAVFOR #Aspides für die #BundeswehrimEinsatz und erhielt ihre Nachversorgung an Artilleriemunition und Flugkörpern. Diese erreichten den Hafen Dschibuti per Luft- und anschließenden Landtransport. Mehr Informationen unter: https://t.co/eCdY89An5g pic.twitter.com/WT1GPHyjrK

— Bundeswehr im Einsatz (@Bw_Einsatz) April 5, 2024

Once the transport aircraft landed, the missiles and ammunition were transferred to the port by private companies with a police escort. The weapons were loaded onto the ship with the help of a large crane, two hoists, and the ammunition handling crew.

The Hessen frigate is the third and last Sachsen-class frigate designed for anti-aircraft area defence, as it is equipped with radars (Thales and STN ATLAS) that can detect targets up to 400 kilometers away.

SMART-L radar

The Hessen frigate’s armament features:

• A 76 mm Oto Melara naval gun
• Two 27 mm MAUSER BK-27 guns
• Two triple tubes for MU90-type torpedoes
• 2 quadruple Harpoon surface-to-surface missile launchers
• 2 RAM close-in missile systems
• Mk.41-type Vertical Launch System (VLS) with 32 launcher modules (24 for SM-2-type surface-to-air missiles / 8 for ESSM-type surface-to-air missiles.

Last March, the Hessen frigate intercepted a Houthi Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) in the Red Sea, while in February, using its 76 mm gun and the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) system, it shot down 2 UAVs launched by the rebels supported by Iran.

On the other hand, the same frigate was criticized for wrongfully engaging a US MQ-9 Reaper-type UAV which was not shot down the day before downing the UAVs. The Reaper was actually engaged with the use of 2 ESSM-2 missiles which did not reach their target according to what has been known and not denied.

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