UK joins naval force fighting Red Sea militants with million-dollar missiles

British destroyer HMS Diamond is among an expanding fleet of warships in the Red Sea that will soon become Operation Prosperity Guardian, a 10-nation force tasked with repelling Yemeni militant attacks on a vital commercial shipping route.

The Houthi group has escalated attacks since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October, initially aimed at Israel and Israel-linked ships, before broadening the scope of its targets.

The militants claimed attacks on Norwegian and Panama-flagged cargo vessels on Thursday. They are deploying a wide range of weapons, many supplied by their patrons in Iran, says Thomas Newdick, an air warfare specialist at military news outlet The War Zone.

“What we are seeing at the moment is long-range kamikaze drones, and then different types of missiles; subsonic cruise missiles, and then longer range, faster ballistic missiles,” he said, adding that it is unclear if the Houthis also possessed specialised anti-ship missiles.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on Tuesday said that the Houthi attacks “are causing the situation in the Red Sea to rapidly deteriorate”, adding that the HMS Diamond will join “a new international task force to protect critical global shipping against those hostile actors who threaten British trade“.

Western ships have demonstrated the capability to neutralise the threats presented so far. The USS Carney shot down 14 drones on Saturday, according to the US military. The British HMS Diamond downed a drone the day before, reportedly the Royal Navy’s first surface-to-air engagement since the Gulf War.

Both deployments relied on similar air defence systems. The US fleet uses SM-2 missiles with a range of around 100 miles connected to radar said to be capable of detecting a target the size of a golf ball at the same distance.

HMS Diamond used a Sea Viper missile with an equivalent range, from the Aster family of missiles also used by France. French frigate the Languedoc has also joined the Red Sea force and shot down several drones last week that were directly aimed at the ship, according to French officials.

But Western commanders will not be complacent as the Houthis are likely to have further capabilities in reserve, or be able to access them via Iran, says Dr Alessio Patalano, a naval warfare specialist at King’s College London.

Tehran could supply “more advanced versions of the calibre [weapons] they have or in larger quantities”, said Professor Patalano. “We should be standing by and assuming that there are more tricks coming our way.”

The Houthis have tested Western ships by firing salvos of drones intended to overwhelm air defences, Mr Newdick notes, while demonstrating air defence capabilities of their own by downing a US MQ-9 Reaper drone last month.

The group has yet to deploy much of its naval capabilities, including sea mines and marine drones that can be packed with explosives to devastating effect, he added.

The militants have also captured ships through what analysts describe as traditional piracy.

Western defensive operations to date have proved expensive. Air defence missiles with an estimated unit cost of around $1.2m (£950,000) are being used to destroy drones worth a fraction of that.

This could become unsustainable, suggests Dr Patalano, which could lead to more investment in detection and targeting capabilities to make shootdowns easier with less advanced weapons.

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Longer term, Western militaries are seeking to develop laser-based weapons that could take out enemy drones and ballistic missiles at a fraction of the cost, but these are not yet “operationally deployable,” he said.

An alternative defensive approach that is reportedly gaining traction in Washington is to pre-empt attacks by taking out launch sites. The US has previously fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at Houthi targets on the West coast of Yemen.

But the militants have spread their resources and keep them moving, increasing the challenge of pre-emptive strikes, says Mr Newdick.

“Drones can be launched from almost anywhere, and most of the ballistic and cruise missiles that the Houthis use are mobile, so it’s not the case that you can strike a headquarters or airfield,” he said.

US concerns over regional escalation are another factor that could weigh against attacks on targets in Yemen, Mr Newdick added, predicting that the game of cat and mouse on the Red Sea could continue indefinitely.