Denmark halted traffic on a busy shipping route and closed airspace over it on Thursday, warning of a possible accidental missile launch and falling debris.
During a test of a Harpoon anti-ship missile, its booster (the rocket motor that launches the missile) was “activated” but not ignited, and then failed to deactivate, the Danish military said.
“Until the booster is deactivated, there is a risk that the missile could be launched and fly for several kilometers,” he said in a statement.
The Danish Maritime Authority warned there was a risk of missile fragments falling near the sea route, known as the Great Belt.
The military said only the booster was activated, not the engine that takes control after launch, nor the warhead, so the missile could not travel very far and the warhead could not detonate.
The mishap came just a day after the Danish government fired its defense chief, the highest-ranking uniformed military officer, General Flemming Lentfer, after a report of weapons systems failures on a ship participating in the US-led effort to send guards near the coast of Yemen.
Thursday’s missile test took place aboard a frigate, the Niels Juel, in the port of Korsør, located next to the Great Belt.
The Great Belt is the strait between Denmark’s two largest islands, Zeeland and Funen, and forms part of the main shipping route between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Tens of thousands of vessels of all sizes and types pass through it annually, transporting cargo and people, according to DanPilot, the country’s pilot service. The strait has heavy traffic and strong currents.
“The people I’ve spoken to in the Navy are taking it very calmly,” said Søren Nørby, an assistant professor at the Norwegian Defense Academy. “They are not evacuating the city of Korsør or anything like that. If it is fired, about 52 kilograms of metal object will fly and fall.”
It could cause some damage, he said, “but there’s nothing about to explode.”
