French FREMM Frigate Languedoc Intercepts Two Drones Off Yemen

 French Navy (Marine Nationale) FREMM frigate Languedoc (D653) shot down two drones off Yemen last night, according to the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. This is the latest of several similar incidents in the area.

The official statement on Languedoc engagement reads:

On December 9, the Languedoc Multi-Mission Frigate (FREMM) of the French Navy shot down two drones that were heading straight towards it, coming from the coast of Yemen.

The interception and destruction of these two identified threats took place around 9:30 p.m. then around 11:30 p.m. (French time) 110 km from the coast of Yemen, near Al Hudaydah.

The Languedoc multi-mission frigate operates in the Red Sea under national chain of command.

Naval News reached out to the office of the Joint Chief of Staffs of the French military (Chef d’état-major des armées – EMA) to learn more about the engagement but we were told that no additional information is available at this time.

This operational engagement against two air threats is the first one in a long time for the French Navy (at least since Opération Harmattan, the French participation in the 2011 military intervention in Libya). Whether it was conducted with missiles or artillery (official details are still pending), this engagement is a testament to the abilities of the combat system and the crew of the frigate as the engagement highly likely took place in a complex setting with several civilian contacts both on the surface and in the air.

Languedoc (D653) is one of six Aquitaine-class FREMM frigates. She was commissioned in July 2017 and is homeported in Toulon. While optimized for anti-submarine warfare, these frigates are multirole and are fitted with 16x Aster 15 surface-to-air missiles, 16x land attack cruise missiles, 8x Exocet anti-ship missiles, 2x dual torpedo launchers, a 76mm main gun and 2x 20mm remote weapons stations. Languedoc won the U.S. Navy 6th Fleet “Hook’em Award” for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) excellence last year. The French Navy also has two more FREMM frigates optimized for air defense.

Languedoc reached the French Navy base in Abu Dhabi in early August is currently under the operational command of Rear Admiral Slaars, French Joint Forces Commander in the Indian Ocean (ALINDIEN) and Commander of the French Forces stationed in the UAE (FFEAU). The frigate had just performed a crew exchange on November 26 in Abu Dhabi.