French Frigate Shoots Down Missile Near Belgian Minehunter Primula in Bab el-Mandeb

A French Navy frigate shot down a ballistic missile that was approaching the Belgian minehunter BNS Primula as it transited the Bab el-Mandeb strait in the Red Sea in mid-October. The incident caused no injuries or damage to the escorted vessel, French and Belgian military sources confirmed.

The episode was first revealed by the Belgian newspaper De Morgen on October 26, citing unidentified sources, and that same day Belgium's Ministry of Defence confirmed it to the public broadcaster VRT NWS, which placed the incident on October 14. The following day, the French Armed Forces General Staff (EMA) formally confirmed the interception and placed the engagement on October 13, describing it as strictly defensive.

French authorities said they were unable to determine the missile's final trajectory and that, as of October 26, no group had claimed responsibility for the launch. Belgian sources believe it was a ballistic missile rather than an anti-ship missile, and consider it unlikely that the Primula was the direct target, speculating it may have been a warning shot, a show of force, or a misfired launch originally aimed at Saudi forces. The Houthis, suspected of firing the missile, did not claim the attack, and neither France nor Belgium formally assigned responsibility to them.

The Primula is a Tripartite-class minehunter based in Zeebrugge that lacks its own missile defense capability and relies on escort vessels to detect and neutralize aerial threats. The Belgian Navy commander, Tanguy Botman, had noted that the Primula cannot defend itself against every threat in a hostile area and needs protection from other warships. The vessel sailed from Zeebrugge on May 28 alongside the Dutch minehunter HNLMS Willemstad to join NATO's Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) in the Mediterranean, and since summer has been operating south of the Arabian Peninsula pending a possible mine-clearing mission in the Strait of Hormuz, which is still awaiting political approval.

The episode occurred shortly after another incident in the same area: on the night of October 1 to 2, the French frigate Languedoc used its main gun to shoot down a drone it considered a threat while escorting the container ship CMA CGM Champs Elysées as it transited Bab el-Mandeb. French FREMM frigates carry Aster missiles, and the Aster 30 variant can intercept ballistic missiles; France had already used that system in March 2024, when the frigate Alsace shot down three ballistic missiles launched from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.