U.S. racks up munitions costs in indefinite fight against Houthis

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The U.S. military’s open-ended war with Yemen’s Houthi rebels is getting expensive.

The conflict with the Iran-allied forces over the past few months appears to have cost U.S. taxpayers well over $100 million in munitions alone, according to most estimates, with a total price tag that will soon easily clear $1 billion.

Determining to the penny how much the Pentagon has spent on its campaign against Houthis is difficult. The cost includes regular downings of Houthi anti-ship missiles and drones over the Red Sea and a growing number of strikes on rebel targets in Yemen. U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military activity in the Middle East, did not provide specific figures when asked by The Washington Times. It cited operational security concerns.

Even the most basic calculations based on publicly available information offer clues on the cost. The U.S. is the leading country in Operation Prosperity Guardian, the multinational coalition formed in December to combat Houthi attacks on commercial shipping lanes in the Middle East. As part of that effort, the U.S. has shot down dozens of Houthi drones and anti-ship missiles, according to CENTCOM data and media reports.

The operation is proving an expensive distraction for the Pentagon, already stressed by the strain of helping supply Ukraine in its war with Russia, the need to support Israel as it battles Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, and the longer-horizon threat a rising China poses across East Asia.

The Pentagon does not typically reveal the exact weapons used in such instances, but they include SM-2 missile interceptors, costing $2.1 million each, and Evolved SeaSparrow Missiles, at $1.8 million each, according to 2022 data from the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

Critics say the money may not be well spent because the Houthis continue targeting ships. That means America’s costly participation in Operation Prosperity Guardian may continue indefinitely.

“U.S. involvement in Prosperity Guardian will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars a month … but even that is just a baseline for defensive operations,” said Michael DiMino, public policy manager and fellow at Defense Priorities, a Washington-based think tank that advocates for a more restrained U.S. military role abroad.

“Within the next several months — again, including the overall costs to keep the lights on with Prosperity Guardian, and not just munitions — we could easily break above $1 billion taxpayer dollars spent” on the operation, he said.

British ships have shouldered some of the burden in the Red Sea and neighboring waterways, though U.S. fighter jets and warships have done most of the heavy lifting.

On Jan. 10, the Houthis launched a barrage of 24 drones and missiles toward ships in the Red Sea. Most were shot down in what appeared to be one of the single most expensive days of the campaign so far. Eric Tegler, an aerospace and defense contributor for Forbes magazine, estimated that even if British troops shot down one-third of the Houthi weapons fired that day, the U.S. intercepted the rest at about $17 million.

Such estimates look at munitions only, not the personnel, fuel, logistics and other costs associated with complex American military operations. In many cases, multimillion-dollar missiles are fired to bring down Houthi drones that cost only a few thousand dollars to manufacture.

The American expenditure has failed to fully stop the Houthi attacks. The U.S. military said Tuesday that Houthi forces carried out their first attack in the Red Sea in six days on Monday when they fired at a grain cargo ship thought to be sailing for Iran. It was not immediately clear why the rebel group would target a vessel heading for its prime patron. A Houthi military spokesman claimed in a video statement that the ship was American, but ocean traffic trackers said it was Greek-owned.

America fills the gap

The Biden administration maintains that America must act to stop the chaos in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and other waterways strategically vital to the movement of goods and fuel worldwide. Houthis have fired hundreds of attack drones and anti-ship missiles at ships since Oct. 7, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a major terrorist attack against Israel. Houthi leaders have said their campaign is retaliation against Israel for its war in the Gaza Strip, though many of the ships targeted seemingly have no connection to the Jewish state.

Iran financially and logistically backs the Houthis and Hamas.

After weeks of defending against Houthi drones and missiles, the U.S. and Britain on Jan. 10 took the fight to the Houthis by targeting weapons depots, missile launchers, drone storage facilities and other sites inside Houthi-controlled Yemen. The decision amounted to the start of a new U.S. war in yet another Middle Eastern country, but President Biden said it was necessary.

“These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes,” Mr. Biden said on Jan. 11, the first day of U.S. and British strikes in Yemen. “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

Other nations assisted with planning and logistics, but only U.S. and British planes have dropped bombs in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen. U.S. and British troops bombed 28 locations and destroyed more than 60 targets in the first round of strikes, the Pentagon said.

Inaction also has costs. International cargo vessels forced to go around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa to avoid the Red Sea dangers expend an estimated $1 million more fuel to reach markets in northern Europe.

A growing war

Since Jan. 11, Yemen has come under at least 20 other sets of strikes at an increasing pace, according to a count of CENTCOM press releases announcing the attacks.

U.S. Central Command said this weekend that it hit Houthi positions on four straight days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, marking one of the most intense periods of strikes since the American counterattack campaign began a month earlier. The flurry of attacks included strikes on Houthi anti-ship cruise missiles and Houthi mobile land attack cruise missiles, each of which was preparing to launch against ships in the Red Sea.

“These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels,” CENTCOM said after the strikes on Feb. 7.

In some cases, U.S. forces have used Tomahawk missiles, which cost about $2 million each. Beyond the costs, analysts warn that the U.S. is quickly depleting its weapons stockpiles, which were already running thin after almost two years of military support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“The price of the munitions themselves may be pennies to the Pentagon financially, but using so many of them amounts to a significant blow to our actual stockpiles of these weapons,” Mr. DiMino said. “By some estimates, the Navy has already used more than a year’s worth of [Tomahawk missile] production in Yemen. It takes time to build these things. So, the costs are not just sticker price. It can set back our production by years in some cases.”