US shoots down Yemen Houthi anti-ship missile

Overnight the US central command reported that Yemen’s Houthis fired one anti-ship cruise missile towards the Red Sea, which was shot down by USS Gravely.

The attack was at 11.30pm local time.

UK armed forces minister James Heappey has floated the idea that the Royal Navy might send one of its two aircraft carriers to the Red Sea to replace the USS Dwight D Eisenhower when its deployment finishes.

In an interview in with the House magazine he said: “There’s no real need for more carrier mass … our judgment was that with the Eisenhower on station and with jets available from Akrotiri, that we were able to meet the challenge as it is now.”

PA Media reports Heappey said: “The fact is the Eisenhower can’t stay there forever”, adding “when the Eisenhower goes home, if we were needed to plug a gap in US deployments, or if the situation deteriorates” then the UK might deploy either HMS Queen Elizabeth or HMS Prince of Wales.

Source » theguardian.com