zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Beyond Cars
/
Here's Video Of A Missile Exploding Onboard A German Frigate Last Week
Here's Video Of A Missile Exploding Onboard A German Frigate Last Week-April 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:14:05

An SM-2 missile misfire and exploded onboard a German Navy frigate during military drills last week. Fortunately there was no serious injury to the sailors onboard, and now there’s video of the explosion and subsequent fire.

Here’s the video via :

It’s easy to understand why the guy heard in the background of thevideo would exclaim the German equivalent of, “Oh shit!”

Two German sailors were reportedly stunned by the incident but recovered, according to a , and fortunately there were no serious injuries nor critical damage to the air defense frigate, called the Sachsen. A similar incident occurred onboard a .

You can see from the video the missile doesn’t appear to have left the launch system before exploding, followed by an extended flame that scorched the deck of the ship.

The ship’s construction prevented this incident from being much worse, according to Popular Mechanics:

The Sachsen class frigates are designed to intercept enemy missiles and aircraft, and are equipped with 32 Mark 41 vertical launch silos built into the bow, just in front of the bridge. It was there the launch took place, and photos show the exterior of the bridge suffered extensive scorching.

[...]

As bad as the incident looks, it could have been a lot worse. The explosion and fire could have spread to other missiles in the silo field but did not. The Mark 41 launcher is armored and designed to work even after the ship suffers damage in combat, a factor that almost certainly limited the damage in this incident.

The ship had been firing a sequence of missiles prior to the failed launch, according to , and the system had been inspected prior to the drills and determined to be functioning without issue.

The SM-2, which stands for “Standard Missile 2,” is a surface to air missile which uses radar homing and a blast-fragment warhead to defend against enemy cruise missiles and aircraft, and can even be used against surface targets.

It’s part of the Aegis Combat System on U.S. Navy Ships, and is used with 15 other allied navies, according to , a website that’s part of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

A similar incident involving the SM-2 missile system occurred on the USS The Sullivans in 2015, where the missile malfunctioned and exploded on launch from the ship.

But here’s what it’s supposed to look like when SM-2s fire normally, as they did in this 2016 U.S. Navy exercise:

It’s still not clear what may have caused the incident, but the ship was able to pull into a Norwegian port and the damage is being investigated. It’s just incredible to see the ship take an explosion likethat and come away with no serious injuries.

An earlier draft of this post was accidentally published due to a technical error. Now you know how the sausage is made. We apologize, and regret the error. – M.B.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Beyond Cars
Crystal Chunks Are Bursting Through The Road In China
Crystal Chunks Are Bursting Through The Road In China
A video of what looks like quartz breaking through the surface of a is making the rounds on . I don’t get over there much, being suspicious of the Chinese over concerns of it spying on its users, as the reports. OK, fine. Actually, I just don’t get the humor...
Apr 27, 2025
Marshmallow Treats Ended Up On The Royal Air Force's No-Fly List
Marshmallow Treats Ended Up On The Royal Air Force's No-Fly List
Over in the United Kingdom, there’s a certain dessert known as a “teacake” — or, as a British friend kindly informed me, it’s more accurately known as a “Tunnock” in Scotland. Basically, the food in question for this particular story are actually a cookie base topped with marshmallow, coated...
Apr 27, 2025
String Of Boeing Failures Continues With 737-800 Flight Turning Back With Cracked Cockpit Windshield
String Of Boeing Failures Continues With 737-800 Flight Turning Back With Cracked Cockpit Windshield
In the wake of recent major , including , , and the debacle that was , it isn’t a good time for further failures by the company. that would , an unrelated 737-800 with a cracked windshield, became international news this weekend. The flight took off from Sapporo-New Chitose...
Apr 27, 2025
Deadliest Train In America Kills 3 People In 2 Separate Collisions At The Same Crossing
Deadliest Train In America Kills 3 People In 2 Separate Collisions At The Same Crossing
operate between Orlando and Miami and hold the unwelcome distinction of being both the first intra-city high speed rail in the U.S. and the , by far. After three people died at a single grade crossing in two separate incidents last week it seems the feds are finally perking...
Apr 27, 2025
Aircraft Touch Tips During Blizzard At Japanese Airport
Aircraft Touch Tips During Blizzard At Japanese Airport
As at , its port side wing the starboard vertical stabilizer of bound for Hong Kong. This comes at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, and . “Our aircraft, which was stationary at the time with no customers nor crew onboard, was struck by a Korean Air A330 which was taxiing past,”...
Apr 27, 2025
2023 Zero DSR/X: The Bike Of The Future, But Not Our Future
2023 Zero DSR/X: The Bike Of The Future, But Not Our Future
The world, in 2023, is cyberpunk. We’ve got the , the , and the that keeps the and the . But in cyberpunk media, people are always riding . Why are we stuck with the same bikes we’ve always had? , it seems, wants to address this grievous wrong....
Apr 27, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved