New information has come to light about the state of the Danish frigate Iver Huitfeldt when it departed for the Red Sea in January, according to a report released by the Danish government. The warship was sailing home after completing its mission in the Red Sea as part of the U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, during which it succeeded at downing four drones earlier that month.
The crew of Iver Huitfeldt experienced challenges in conducting engagement with the frigate’s missile system as well as a high failure rate of 76mm artillery shells during the engagement of drones on March 9. Trouble began in the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile launcher system, where an unknown error condition occurred after the firing of the first missile, rendering them unable to engage for 30 minutes.
Following this, the crew was found to have “inadvertently” triggered an additional error in the ship’s command and control system, further affecting the missile engagement. The complete launcher system has been taken ashore for analysis. The ESSM weapons are made by a multinational industry consortium led by RTX’s Raytheon.
Contrary to initial claims, the investigation concluded that there is no indication of deficiencies with the ship’s active phased array radar. Artillery malfunctions were primarily caused by the early burst of shells close to the ship or failing to hit the target. The shells used dated between 1989 and 1992, which had not encountered such problems in test firings.
The crew faced challenges with data flow between the ship’s command-and-control system and the radar and fire-control system during training. Concerns about inexperience in new crew members and equipment not fully tested were reported before deployment. Prior to March 9, knowledge of a “software weakness” in the interface between the ships’ radar and fire control system was known.
