Brit warship HMS Diamond blasts Iran-backed cruise missiles with devastating Sea Viper rockets for first time in Red Sea

A ROYAL Navy warship has shot down a ballistic missile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels for the first time.

HMS Diamond unleashed its devastating Sea Viper system to blast the missile out of the sky, Grant Shapps told The Times.

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Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond has shot down a ballistic missile fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea[/caption]

The Type 45 destroyer previously testing her world-beating Sea Viper missile system

Reuters

The Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping since November[/caption]

It was the first time in more than three decades that British warships have engaged an enemy missile in anger.

The Type 45 air defence destroyer was protecting a merchant vessel attacked in the Red Sea on Wednesday.

The vessel has shot down several drones including seven in one night in January.

But it was the first time a Royal Navy warship has shot down a ballistic missile since 1991, during the first Gulf War.

Shapps said: “A commercial ship came under attack by a ballistic missile and HMS Diamond shot down that missile using Sea Viper.”

Each Sea Viper missile costs over £1million.

Shapps said the attack proved how dangerous the world had become.

He said rebel groups like the Houthis were bristling with “very sophisticated weapons” from sponsors such as Iran.

He claimed the incident proved that Rishi Sunak was right to ramp up spending on defence to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030.

Shapps added: “That gives an indication of a changed world and why the 2.5 per cent is so vital.”

HMS Diamond deployed to the Red Sea alongside a US carrier group to protect merchant shipping and Israel from Iran-backed attacks.

It can track hundreds of objects the size of a tennis ball from hundreds of miles away with its iconic Samson radar.

Houthi rebels are armed with Iran’s Fateh missiles which can reach over 400 miles.

The Houthis boasted yesterday that they had targeted the Maersk Yorktown ship and an American warship destroyer in the Gulf of Aden.

HMS Diamond fired Sea Viper missiles and its close in Phalanx machine guns to shoot down several drones before rotating with frigate HMS Richmond.

The smaller UK warship shot down a pair of drones using its smaller Sea Ceptor missiles.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, which they say are in support of Palestinians amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

AP

HMS Diamond’s interception of the ballistic missile was the first by a Royal Navy warship since 1991, during the first Gulf War[/caption]

AP

A previous image of HMS Diamond firing its Sea Viper missile to engage and shoot down an aerial drone over the Red Sea[/caption]

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An Officer of the Watch on the bridge of HMS Diamond in the Red Sea[/caption]

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HMS Diamond’s operations room where the call to fire her Sea Viper missiles is made[/caption]