A Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter has been filmed shooting down drones during a high-intensity weapons trial off the coast of Wales.
HMS Dauntless, a Type 45 destroyer, led the five-day Exercise Sharpshooter, neutralising dozens of air and sea-based targets using her full range of weapons—including Martlet missiles fired from an embarked Wildcat helicopter.
A Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter has been filmed shooting down drones during a high-intensity weapons trial off the coast of Wales. pic.twitter.com/gPEm82DQcN
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) April 7, 2025
Footage is Crown Copyright 2025 and was captured by LPHOT WALTON.
The footage, recorded during the drill, shows the helicopter engaging simulated drone swarms with pinpoint accuracy, part of a broader test involving over 350 Royal Navy and QinetiQ personnel.
The exercise mirrors scenarios seen in the Red Sea, where sister ship HMS Diamond intercepted multiple real-world Houthi drone and missile attacks.
“The speed and skill shown by the crew of HMS Dauntless in defending the ship against a complex and sustained series of drone attacks was incredibly impressive,” said Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard MP, who observed the exercise.
Alongside the Martlets, Dauntless deployed her Phalanx close-in weapon system, 30mm and 4.5-inch guns, and other defensive measures to tackle simulated threats from QinetiQ’s Banshee Whirlwind aerial drones and Hammerhead uncrewed surface vessels.
Commander Ben Dorrington, Commanding Officer of Dauntless, praised the realism of the training: “The exercise provided a unique opportunity for the ship’s company to demonstrate they are ready to defend, ready to fight and ready to win.”
The live-fire trial marks the final qualification step before HMS Dauntless joins the UK’s Carrier Strike Group deployment to the Indo-Pacific later this year.
It would have been nice if Sea Venom could have had a test firing too, even if it isn’t fully integrated yet, but Highmast is such a big project, I suppose you have to focus on the main line. It would also have been nice if the RN was still big enough that a strike group deployment wasn’t so all consuming.
I have heard on the grapevine, that Sea Venom has successfully completed its firing trials.
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I’m glad this sort of exercise is getting the publicity it is, as it might give some reassurance to doubters that we aren’t blithly sending the carrier into the Red Sea unprepared. Given the recent attacks on USS Truman, this exercise is sorely needed, and showing it is the right thing to do. Well done to the Navy/MOD publicity teams for getting this out there.
If anything, the live fire exercise for HMS Dauntless is likely to be at the more extreme end of scenarios. The Banshees in particular depending on the RF reflectors and IR transmitters fitted, can be made to be very stealthy. Making it significantly more difficult to detect, thereby for the Ops Team significantly reducing the time they have to react to an incoming threat.
Sea Venom along with the Martlet, does give the ship via its Wildcat the option of prosecuting land targets, whilst staying out of MANPAD range.
The video shows nothing.