A Royal Navy warship has blown up a drone flying at 500mph off the coast of Scotland.

The exercise in the Outer Hebrides was intended to simulate an attack on the HMS Diamond.

A video released by the navy shows the £1bn destroyer launching a Sea Viper missile in a flash of light.

The rocket hurtles into the sky, accelerating to 3000mph - more than four times the speed of sound - within three seconds.

It then uses its sophisticated radar tracking system to lock onto and destroy the drone high over the sea.

Ben Keith, commanding officer of the HMS Diamond, said: "An explosion in the sky marked the missile destroying her target.

"We have proven once again that the Type 45 destroyer is a world-beating ship when it comes to air defence and this firing gives us the utmost confidence in Diamond and her systems in advance of our deployment later this year."

The HMS Diamond will now return to Portsmouth before being deployed later this year.

In 2015 a US warship destroyed a missile fired into space from the Outer Hebrides during war games in a UK first.