A U.S. Navy warship sailing near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait shot down a drone launched from Yemen, a U.S. official said Wednesday, in the latest in a string of threats from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
The official said according to initial reports, USS Carney, a Navy destroyer, deemed the drone — an Iranian-made KAS-04 — to be a threat and shot it down over water in the southern Red Sea as the ship was moving toward the strait. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a military operation not yet made public.
The Wednesday shootdown comes a day after an Iranian drone flew within 1,500 yards of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier as it was conducting flight operations in international waters in the Arabian Gulf.
Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the drone "violated safety precautions" by not staying more than 10 nautical miles from the ship. The drone ignored multiple warnings but eventually turned away.
(Associated Press)