French Frigate Shoots Down Drone Threatening CMA CGM Vessel in the Red Sea

A French Navy frigate shot down a drone it deemed a threat to the containership CMA CGM Champs Elysee while escorting the vessel near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the southern end of the Red Sea. The incident occurred on the night of October 1-2 and was confirmed by the French Armed Forces' Joint Staff to the newspaper Le Monde, which reported it on October 15.

The frigate Languedoc used its gun to destroy the device, believed to be a surveillance drone equipped only with cameras. The drone flew over a convoy of several merchant vessels that included the Champs Elysee and at least one MSC containership, and the CMA CGM vessel changed course and speed during the episode. The Champs Elysee, 400 meters in length, LNG-powered and with a capacity of 23,112 TEU, had departed Singapore on September 20, transited the Suez Canal on October 3, and was scheduled to arrive in Le Havre on October 16.

According to the CFDT union, following the attack the number of seafarers refusing to make the Red Sea crossing increased, a rise that was discussed at a CMA CGM health, safety and working conditions committee meeting on October 7. Union representative Delphine de Franco noted that more crew members are reluctant to sail through the area, prompting the union to ask the carrier to use alternative routes whenever possible. CMA CGM responded that each transit is carried out with each crew member's consent, that it maintains constant contact with French authorities, and that it holds daily discussions with crews and unions; the company also pays a war bonus of 1,500 euros to those who agree to cross the Red Sea.

The episode comes amid an escalation of clashes between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which led French President Emmanuel Macron to announce, on September 24, the deployment of defensive military support to protect the port and oil terminal of Yanbu. The European Union's naval mission Aspides, launched in 2024 to protect vessels from Houthi attacks, raised its alert level in September, and the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said on October 8 that more escort vessels are needed, as the mission aims to have ten ships but currently has only two or three. The Suez Canal Authority reported that tonnage transiting the waterway grew 54.2% in the first eight months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, and that by the end of August 199 CMA CGM-affiliated vessels, totaling 5.2 million net tons, had crossed the canal, compared with 212 vessels and 18.8 million tons for all of 2025.

Crew concerns add to a previous incident in which the vessel CMA CGM San Antonio was hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on May 5, injuring eight crew members. The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden have been classified as a war zone by the International Bargaining Forum since March 2024, granting eligible seafarers the right to extra pay and to refuse to sail through the area.