Royal Navy successfully test-fires new laser-guided missile to thwart lethal drone attacks

THE Navy has successfully test-fired a caller laser-guided rocket to thwart lethal drone attacks.

It has shown the air-to-air imaginable of the Martlet, which was built to destruct fast- onslaught trade and speedboats.

Crew connected a Wildcat chopper tracked a Banshee drone flying astatine hundreds of miles an hr implicit the Bristol Channel.

They launched a Martlet and filmed it smashing into its target.

Commander James Woods, commanding serviceman of 815 Naval Air Squadron, said: "This is simply a fantastic improvement for the Wildcat HMA 2 chopper and a important advancement successful maritime onslaught capableness for the Royal Navy that further refines our quality to deter and neutralise airborne threats."

Wildcat aviator Lieutenant Dave Guest said: "It's truly important that we tin show the Wildcat's effectiveness successful engaging targets specified arsenic uncrewed systems - and that we tin bash truthful connected our own, without requiring the assistance of different assets.

"Martlet is simply a highly-capable - and besides cost-effective - limb successful our arsenal, perfect for this, portion Banshee is typical of the challenges we look globally, peculiarly successful the Red Sea."

This twelvemonth a Wildcat was deployed aboard destroyer HMS Diamond portion facing the menace of drones fired by Houthi rebels astatine shipping successful the Red Sea and Gulf of Yemen.

Last month, The Sun revealed a almighty task radical of stealth jets and warships had gathered disconnected the seashore of Scotland to transportation retired subject drills for "Exercise Strike Warrior".

The UK Carrier Strike Group, with HMS Prince of Wales as its focal point, was completing captious preparations for a large planetary deployment successful 2025.

It was successful mentation for the Carrier Strike Group 25 deployment, which would nonstop British warships, enactment vessels and jets crossed the world.

It was acceptable to beryllium the archetypal ngo of its benignant since HMS Queen Elizabeth led a 49,000-mile ngo to Japan and backmost successful 2021.