Navy warship Thomas Hudner shoots down a drone in the Red Sea

Navy destroyer Thomas Hudner shot down a drone on Wednesday in the Red Sea — the second time in less than a month that a Navy warship has done so in the Middle East amid fears of a broader conflict in the region.

Thomas Hudner was crossing international waters on Wednesday when he “engaged with a drone originating from Yemen and heading toward the ship,” according to a brief Pentagon statement, which said Hudner shot the drone in self-defense.

“Hudner’s crew engaged the drone and shot it down to ensure the safety of American personnel,” the Pentagon said. “There were no American casualties or any damage to the ship.”

No further details were provided on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s interception comes after the Navy destroyer Carney shot down cruise missiles and drones on October 19.

US officials said at the time that Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a barrage of missiles towards Israel, the same week that US ground forces in Iraq and Syria were attacked by drones, incidents that continued and led to retaliatory US airstrikes in Syria.

Hudner is deployed to the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group, which the Pentagon sent to the eastern Mediterranean following the Palestinian Hamas movement’s attack on Israel on October 7.

US officials have issued stern warnings to Iranian-backed forces in the region not to escalate the conflict, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin affirmed his commitment “to deter any state or non-state actor that seeks to escalate this conflict,” in a call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant last week. .

However, it faced US forces in Iraq and Syria 55 attacks by Iranian-backed militias The Pentagon said on Monday that US forces wounded nearly 60 people last month.

The Air Force Brigadier General said: “I think we are all sensitive to the fact that there are tensions in the region.” Gen. Pat Rader, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters this month. He added: “You are seeing, and perhaps we will continue to see, groups that may try to exploit the situation to achieve their own interests, including Iranian proxy groups.”

The Ford Strike Group conducted dual carrier operations earlier this month with Dwight D. Eisenhower and the US 6th Fleet’s flagship Mount Whitney in the eastern Mediterranean.

Since then, the carrier Eisenhower has transited the Suez Canal and arrived in US Central Command’s Middle Eastern waters on November 4. This was the first time the aircraft carrier entered the US Central Command area of ​​responsibility since the end of the Afghanistan war in 2021.