Denmark / Missile Missile in Exercise – Airspace and Shipping Lanes Closed

THE Danish army stated that a missile failure on navy ship, led to closure of airspace and shipping lanes, near a major shipping strait off the country’s coast.

THE National Maritime Authority issued a warning to ships to avoid part of the Great Belt strait, due to the risk of “falling missile fragments”, reports the BBC. Ships were also asked to drop anchor if necessary.

A naval exercise, which began in the area last March and is due to conclude on Friday. In a statement, Denmark’s military said the problem with the missile occurred “during a mandatory test where the missile launcher is enabled and cannot be disabled».

“Until the missile launcher is disabledthere is a risk that the missile will launch and fly a few kilometers away“, the army added. The missile was launched from the Niels Juel frigate, which is part of NATO’s standing naval force from 2023.

The warning contained one area southwest of the city of Korsor, about 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) south of the Great Belt Bridge, which crosses the strait. The bridge remains open to traffic, its operator said. The Ministry of Defense said that Mr rocket contained 150 kg of explosivesadding that it was not armed and was not expected to explode if it fell into the sea.

The Great Belt Strait incident comes at the end of a difficult week for the Danish navy, according to the British media. On Wednesday, the defense chief, General Fleming Ledfer, was fired for failing to report a malfunction of weapons systems on a Danish frigate, the Iver Huitfeldt, in the Red Sea.

THE Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsensaid he had lost confidence in Mr. Lentfer, who failed to inform the defense ministry that the frigate’s radar and missile systems failed when it was attacked by a drone controlled by Houthi fighters.

The Iver Huitfeldt was helping to secure commercial sea traffic from Houthi attacks as they launched a campaign of support for the Palestinians following Israel’s attack on Gaza. None of the crew were injured and the ship was not damaged.