| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Horn |
| U.S. is launching $2 million defense missiles to stop $2,000 Houthi drones, a discrepancy that the Yemeni rebel group has noted in its statements mocking Washington. |
| 2024-03-04 |
| [Yahoo] More than two months of direct fighting with the Houthis has heavily taxed the U.S. military, which is spending a significant amount of money to take down cheap drones, launch retaliatory strikes and defend against rebels who are, in turn, shooting down pricey American drones. In most cases, the U.S. is launching $2 million defense missiles to stop $2,000 Houthi drones, a discrepancy that the Yemeni rebel group has noted in its statements mocking Washington. The cost of taking on the Houthis is also becoming more apparent as the defiant fighters show no signs of stopping and could lock the U.S. into a long conflict — and it’s throwing the world into a tough spot. “North Yemen is becoming like North Korea when it comes to firing rockets over the seas,” said Mohammed al-Basha, a Yemen and Middle East expert at Navanti Group. “It’s going to be a long-term issue for not just us, but for the world.” Since late November, the Houthis have attacked commercial boats and U.S. ships dozens of times, with most of the attacks unsuccessful, as the U.S. shoots down drones or anti-ship cruise missiles on a near-daily basis. But they successfully hijacked a ship in November, set a ship on fire in January and sunk a British cargo vessel. To date, the Houthis have hit 15 commercial ships since the fighting between Israel and Hamas began in October, with four of those ships being U.S. vessels, according to Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Pete Nguyen. The U.S. in December set up a task force called Operation Prosperity Guardian, which involves a coalition of other allied nations, to patrol the waters of the Red Sea and defend commercial shipping against the Houthis. In January, the U.S. began launching strikes on the Houthis with the U.K., and both nations have continued to target the group in Yemen to knock out military capabilities before they can be used in attacks. The maritime operation is still in effect. Between four and eight coalition ships are in the Red Sea on any given day, according to the Pentagon, but the U.S. is the primary actor taking down Houthi drones and missiles. While playing defense, the U.S. Navy is likely using Standard Missile-2 surface-to-air missiles, which cost more than $2 million a piece, to take down Houthi attacks. The Navy may also be using Standard SM-6 missiles, which cost more than $4 million each. The missiles are effective because they can neutralize threats over a larger area, enabling the U.S. to protect commercial ships. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. will continue to safeguard international trade and noted that if the coalition hadn’t taken action, lives would be in danger and assets at risk. “What would have been the cost of sunken ships, lives lost, environmental disaster, had we not and were we not working with the international community to address this problem?” Ryder asked. Ryder said for the Houthis, in the long term it is “not to their benefit to continue this.” Harsh words. “It’s almost like the Houthis are trying to wreck their own neighborhood,” he said. Robert Murrett, a retired Navy vice admiral and a former vice director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed. “The cost … is an absolute drop in the bucket compared to the global disruption that’s being visited on the world’s economy by the Houthis,” he said. “My firm advice to all the men or women on these [Navy boats] is use whatever you’ve got. Don’t worry about the cost.” Still, Murrett, now a professor at Syracuse University, said the U.S. could look at cheaper means of taking down the drones like electronic jamming. “One of the best ways to deal with a cheap, unmanned aircraft is soft kill, and it has to do with electronic warfare jamming and other devices such as that, which is fairly inexpensive,” he said. The Houthis are also costing the U.S. elsewhere: taking down two roughly $32 million Reaper drones in November and another in February. Wes Rumbaugh, a fellow with the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said any military engagement is going to cost money and argued you can’t put a dollar value on saving lives. “The United States Department of Defense is not trying to win an accounting exercise,” he said. Rumbaugh also said he would place his bets on the U.S. over the Houthis in a protracted economic battle. “I don’t think the rookies are going to be able to bankrupt the United States,” he said. But the Houthis have not only stepped up attacks over time, they are also introducing new capabilities into the fight. Last month, Houthi fighters launched an underwater drone for the first time in the Red Sea combat arena. And Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said this week that he would soon introduce new “surprises” into the fight after vowing to carry on the battle. |
| Posted by:NoMoreBS |
| #10 What is the actual payload of those "tiny cheap swarm drones" ...a hand grenade? What is the effective range as well ...30 minutes flight and barely cross town? Like every other weapon system they have to obey the Iron Law of Design Tradeoffs. |
| Posted by: magpie 2024-03-04 21:27 |
| #9 one simple AFE bomb/missile will take care of a tight swarm... |
| Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance 2024-03-04 19:16 |
| #8 DroneHunter® F700 Drone Threats: Evolving Toward Swarms |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2024-03-04 16:42 |
#7 Drones are tiny and slow in comparison and are easier to destroy. If they fly in a 1000 drone swarm, are they still easier to destroy? |
| Posted by: Gromble Dribble4342 2024-03-04 14:32 |
| #6 yemen is a distraction. iran is the enemy. occupy chah badar. |
| Posted by: irish rage boy 2024-03-04 12:53 |
| #5 ^ It is a fun game while it lasts, but eventually it becomes annoying and the offending side gets Gaza-fied. Right now, we see an imbalance because our air defenses were designed to bring down fast movers - airplanes and missiles, both ballistic and cruise. Drones are tiny and slow in comparison and are easier to destroy. As drone warfare continues to grow in popularity, expect to see air defenses evolve to become more closely tailored to the problem. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2024-03-04 12:34 |
| #4 p.s. The Gazooks played that game: cheap qassams vs. expensive Iron Dome missiles with Israel for years - what happens to Gaza now is the solution. |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-03-04 11:47 |
| #3 the U.S. is launching $2 million defense missiles to stop $2,000 Houthi drones Good for taunting, but a stupid form of accounting, IMHO. The value of a munition is not what it costs to produce, but what it can destroy. Does it sound silly to spend a few hundred bucks on a bullet-proof vest to protect your life against a $1 round of bullet? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2024-03-04 11:38 |
| #2 How about dropping a few old-fashioned stupid bombs on the important infrastructure points in Houti-land? |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-03-04 11:20 |
| #1 How about building a Drone Spider-web attack by adapting the already in use the computer controlled 1,000 drones shows concept. Flight times range from 15 to 45 mins and have a 10km to 15km range. Cost for the whole drone cloud under $2M and estimated drone survival percentages well over 75%+ |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2024-03-04 07:14 |
