Red Sea, EU OK for the 'Aspides' mission: ships, commander and objectives, all the news

Recognising the need to take urgent measures, Italy ordered, as a first and immediate measure, the dispatch of the frigate 'Virginio Fasan', which was later replaced by the equal class ' Federico Martinengo '.

As explained by Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani, Italy will participate in Aspides with the destroyer Caio Duilio , which joins the other frigates already engaged in the Atalanta anti-piracy mission, and which is currently already in the Red Sea.

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto explained that the new operation can only be brought to parliament once it has been approved by the EU Council. The parliament, the minister clarified, may approve it or not, as is its prerogative. Rome hopes that also moderate Arab countries will participate in Aspides.

Italy, which with France and Germany has been among the main supporters of Aspides, will have the operational command of the operation. An operation that for some constitutes a new step towards a truly European defence. Defence is also considering the possibility of providing air assets with surveillance and data collection capabilities. Among the hypotheses on the table is the dispatch of G550 Caew aircraft from the 14th Air Force Wing, already deployed in missions on NATO's eastern flank. These are real flying radars, equipped with a multi-sensor system with air surveillance, command, control, and communications functions. The deployment of Predator-type drones with reconnaissance and territorial control tasks is also possible. The Wider Mediterranean is central to Italy's national security strategy.

Once the Italian parliament has given the green light to the new European mission, Defence will take over the Embarked Command of the operation. Leading the forces will be the Rear Admiral Stefano Costantino and hosting them will be the destroyer Caio Duilio. Aspides has its headquarters in the Greek city of Larissa. Leading it at tactical level, however, will be the destroyer of the Italian Navy, under the expert command of Costantino - at the helm of national and international operations for the past twenty years -, already in the area since the beginning of February and equipped with three cannons, two machine guns, an anti-aircraft missile system capable of covering distances of up to 120 kilometres, two rocket launchers, two anti-submarine torpedo launchers and a helicopter. Its full-bodied and armed team can already count on the German frigate Hessen, which set sail on 8 February for the Red Sea with a crew of some 240 men, the belgian ship Marie-Louise, and a French ship that Paris is ready to make available from among those already present in the narrow waters between Asia and Africa, where almost 15% of global maritime trade transits. The Strategic Command will remain - as for all EU Military Missions and Operations - in Brussels.

The Italian forces are also waiting for reinforcements from the other countries participating in the sister operation Agenor in the waters of the Arabian Gulf: Greece, Portugal, Denmark and the Netherlands. While Ireland and Spain have already let it be known that they will send neither ships nor men.

The European naval vessels will carry out naval protection and escort tasks and support the Maritime Situational Awareness, maintaining close coordination with Atalanta, with which Aspides will share part of the area of operations, albeit with a distinction of tasks, and with Prosperity Guardian. Aspides, as Tajani made clear, is defensive. It envisages the shooting down of drones, missiles and any other weapons directed against merchant ships. It does not, however, envisage attacks on Yemeni territory, as is the case with the US-led Anglo-American operation Prosperity Guardian. Possible reactions to attacks by enemy naval vessels will be discussed.

On a normative level, Aspides pivots on a recent UN mandate and Articles 42, 43 and 44 of the Treaty of the European Union (TEU). Article 42 provides for the use of 'civilian and military means in missions outside the EU to ensure peacekeeping, conflict prevention and the strengthening of international security, in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter'. Article 44 gives the possibility of entrusting a group of member states, volunteers with appropriate capabilities, with such interventions.