The fighter pilots hunting Houthi drones over the Red Sea - BBC News

The BBC has been given rare access to US Navy warships trying to protect shipping.

12 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage caption, The taskforce the USS Bataan is part of can monitor a wide area of seaBy Nafiseh Kohnavard, Middle East correspondentBBC Persian, in the eastern MediterraneanUnder cover of darkness, a single fighter jet roars as it rips across the deck of the USS Bataan, a vast US assault ship. Moments later, a second jet follows.

The flashing red and green lights on the tips of their wings soon disappear somewhere over the eastern Mediterranean.

Home to 2,400 US Marines and sailors, this gigantic floating military base filled with armoured vehicles, jets and helicopters usually deploys at speed to transport troops on to land.

But when Yemen's Houthis began firing missiles and flying drones into commercial ships in the Red Sea, the crew of the USS Bataan found themselves having to adapt to air combat, sending jets out to try and shoot them down.

"I never imagined I was going to be doing this when we launched," says lead pilot Captain Earl Ehrhart.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68227200?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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