Sensor, weapon hiccups reportedly plagued Danish frigate in Red Sea

MILAN — Critical weapon and mission systems aboard the Danish frigate Iver Huitfeldt malfunctioned during the ship’s recent deployment to the Red Sea, as the ship was partaking in an international effort to protect maritime cargo traffic against attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants, according to published reports.

The Danish independent news website Olfi reported that in a leaked message the frigate’s commanding officer, Cdr. Sune Lund, complained about a problem pertaining to the ship’s active phased array radar and the C-Flex combat management system.

These pieces of equipment are produced by Thales Netherlands and the Danish firm Terma, respectively.

According to the captain’s communication, the unexplained outages were severe enough to prevent the frigate from launching its RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles, also known as ESSMs, for roughly 30 minutes.

These munitions are medium-range, surface-to-air missiles used to protect ships against enemy aircraft, amongst other threats.

Additional problems concerned the ammunition for two of the ship’s 76mm guns, which were defective on more than one occasion during operations, according to the Olfi report.

Other websites have now also published parts of Lund’s message, which revealed that the equipment problems reportedly had been known about for “years” but that little had been done to address them.

The Danish Ministry of Defense has not yet confirmed these reports, but an investigation is said to be ongoing.

Additional navies have also recently been faced with some operational challenges while in the area, including the German Navy Hessen frigate, which accidentally fired two missiles at a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone, both of which failed to hit the target.

Amid the reported problems aboard the Iver Huitfeldt, the Danish Armed Forces published a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, showing its crew cheering as they locked on an enemy target and proceeded to strike it.

“The Iver Huitfeldt frigate is on its way home to Denmark after completing its mission in the Red Sea, where the crew, among other things, downed four drones,” the Defense Ministry said in an accompanying statement.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——据已公布的报道，丹麦护卫舰“伊弗·休特费尔特”号在最近部署到红海期间，舰上关键的武器和任务系统发生故障。当时，该舰正在参与一项国际行动，以保护海上货物运输免受也门胡塞武装分子（伊朗支持）的袭击。

丹麦独立新闻网站 Olfi 报道称，在泄露的一条信息中，这艘护卫舰的指挥官 Sune Lund 中校抱怨了与该舰的有源相控阵雷达和 C-Flex 作战管理系统有关的问题。

这些设备分别由泰雷兹荷兰公司和丹麦泰玛公司生产。

根据舰长的通讯，这些无法解释的故障非常严重，导致这艘护卫舰大约 30 分钟无法发射其 RIM-162 改进型海麻雀导弹（ESSM）。

这些弹药是中程地对空导弹，用于保护舰船免受敌机及其他威胁的攻击。

根据奥尔菲报告，其他问题还包括该舰两门 76 毫米炮的弹药，这两门炮在作战期间不止一次出现故障。

其他网站也刊登了伦德的部分信息，其中透露，这些设备问题据称已经存在“多年”，但几乎没有采取任何措施来解决这些问题。

丹麦国防部尚未证实这些报道，但据说调查正在进行中。

最近，其他一些国家的海军在该地区也遇到了一些作战挑战，其中包括德国海军的黑森号护卫舰，该舰意外向一架美国MQ-9“死神”无人机发射了两枚导弹，但这两枚导弹均未击中目标。

在“伊弗·休特费尔特”号潜艇出现问题之际，丹麦武装部队在 X（前身为 Twitter）上发布了一段视频，视频显示该潜艇的船员在锁定敌方目标并对其进行攻击时欢呼雀跃。

国防部在一份随附声明中表示：“伊弗·休特费尔特号护卫舰在完成红海任务后正在返回丹麦的途中，舰上人员除其他任务外，还击落了四架无人机。”

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。