The USS Carney, a Navy destroyer, blasted a drone out of the sky on Wednesday for flying too close. Apparently, Iran thinks Israel’s cease fire gives them the right to buzz our warships. Manned or not, any aircraft that gets within range is going down in flames.
Drone blasted from sky
This isn’t the first drone incident of a similar nature in the Arabian Gulf over the past few days.
As aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and a host of other warships are operating in the area, they’ve been harassed on an almost daily basis.
On November 29 the group of American ships were sailing near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait when they spotted the incoming drone launched from Yemen.
???????????????????? Iranian drones WARN US carrier ship sailing by! pic.twitter.com/JbH3Aao6Rc
— Jackson Hinkle ???????? (@jacksonhinklle) November 28, 2023
It’s the “latest in a string of threats from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.” Republicans in Congress are threatening to shut off the flow of Yemen aid.
According to a Pentagon official, the Carney “deemed the drone — an Iranian-made KAS-04 — to be a threat and shot it down over water in the southern Red Sea.”
The day before, a similar Iranian craft buzzed the Eisenhower, getting within 1,500 yards. The carrier was “conducting flight operations in international waters” at the time.
Violated safety precautions
U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper relates that the drone “violated safety precautions” by not staying more than 10 nautical miles from the ship.
They gave the incoming threat “multiple warnings” but they were ignored. Just as they were getting ready to smoke it, the radio controlled plane veered off.
A similar event happened earlier this month. In that one, the Navy destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, “shot down a drone that was heading toward the ship as it sailed in the southern Red Sea.”
US Navy warship shoots down Iranian-made Houthi drone launched from Yemen https://t.co/wAiu4PS8xd
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 29, 2023
That one was also sailing near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That one also went into the drink.
With all the increased activity surrounding Hamas and their unprovoked attack on Israel, which was answered with decisive force, the Red Sea is an uneasy place to be.
Stretching from Egypt’s Suez Canal to the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait separating the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, the waterway is a “key trade route for global shipping and energy supplies.” Meaning oil. The Navy’s making it crystal clear that any drone that gets close enough to be hit will get shot down.
