Red Sea, Aspides commander: ships not enough, mission at risk

Three months after the go-ahead was given in mid-February, the European mission ' Eunavfor Aspides ' does not have enough warships to protect merchant ships in the Red Sea against attacks by Houthi rebels. The alarm was raised, according to the German weekly Spiegel, by the operational commander of the mission, Commodore Vasileios Gryparis, at a closed-door meeting with diplomatic representatives in Brussels in recent days.

After the withdrawal of the German frigate 'Hessen', is the message given by the military on that occasion, only three warships (the Italian Fasan , the Greek Hydra and a French FREMM) can be counted on for the coming months. The protection of commercial ships is therefore at risk.

According to Gryparis, the balance of the first 100 days of the operation is nevertheless positive: since the start of the mission, deployed warships, including the German frigate 'Hessen', have accompanied 96 merchant ships through the Red Sea. Twelve drones and a missile launched by the Houthis were neutralised by the anti-aircraft defences of the warships.

The problem is that now, after the German frigate has no longer been part of the team since 20 April, the mission would be able to escort a maximum of four merchant ships per day through the Bab el Mandeb strait off the Yemeni coast. According to the rear admiral, at least ten warships and the air support of a drone or reconnaissance aircraft would be needed.

The danger from the Houthi attacks, Gryparis confided, is more acute than ever. According to the commander, at the end of April, the Houthis managed for the first time to saturate the air defence of EU ships with a swarm of drones and damage a merchant ship. The warships are equipped with modern anti-air defences capable of fighting multiple targets at the same time. But with a whole swarm of drones, even the most powerful systems run into difficulties sooner or later.