How the Navy tackles drone threats from operations room of £1.4bn destroyer
HMS Diamond has been battling Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, taking out multiple drones using several on-board weapons.
Meanwhile, in Portsmouth, her sister ship, HMS Duncan, has been taking on a training exercise to recreate the Type 45 destroyer's response to a potential aerial attack.
Commander Ben Martin, Commanding Officer of HMS Duncan, said it is "routine business" to make sure the ship is prepared "as the very high readiness destroyer".
HMS Diamond has shot down attack drones in the Red Sea using Sea Viper many times in the battle against the Houthis.
Commander Martin said seeing HMS Diamond’s performance has been "invigorating" but says the exercises taking place on HMS Duncan are "routine business".
"Our systems are now absolutely proven in an operational context," he said.
"We've always been confident in our systems but we can have additional confidence now and we can look at the situation that's been experienced by HMS Diamond on a number of occasions, and draw lessons from that and weave it into our own training so we can all improve."
During the training, Sea Viper is the weapon of choice for both targets in the exercise scenarios.
However, given what HMS Diamond has been facing in the Red Sea, the crew is very aware that, one day, they could be doing it for real.
Petty Officer Lewis Cheatham, Sea Viper Controller, said "there is a lot of responsibility" on the shoulders of those operating the weapons system.
"You can't have a bad day at the office," he said. "Sometimes, the reaction times that we [need] is very quick, however, we're trained to such a high standard that I wouldn't feel unsafe in an ops room with this team.
"It is a sense of pride knowing that we are Viper controllers and the gunners and we can deal with any threat."
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