by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The US Navy and the Pentagon are taking visible measures to avoid direct involvement in current ongoing combat in the Middle East, however they have forward positioned a massive amount of maritime and aerial power within range to protect Israel. Therefore, while not conducting offensive operations, US Navy carriers and destroyers are performing “defensive” combat missions and intercepting or destroying weapons attacking Israel.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are attacking Israel from the Southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula near the Red Sea in an effort to terrorize, intimidate and destroy Israelis. In the Red Sea recently, The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) fired a Standard Missile (SM) 2 to defeat a combination of Houthi missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in the Red Sea.
Designed to fire from an Aegis-radar enabled US Navy destroyer, the SM-2 interceptor is the part of the US Navy’s “layered” defense system designed to destroy close-in threats out to ranges of 90 miles. The US Navy assessment of the intercept did not specify the launch points of the Houthi missiles and drones, however the USS Carney must have seen them with ship radar and been within 90-miles of the incoming Houthi weapons to destroy them with an SM-2. This is quite significant, given that Yemen is 2,211km from Israel, so it means the US Navy destroyer was able to achieve precision target tracking from closer-in-distances and intercept long-range ballistic missiles and drones.
There is likely some concern that these kinds of US Navy defensive maneuver could risk US involvement in a wider conflict, the Pentagon has shown great resolve when it comes to supporting Israel with weapons, supplies and ammunition without engaging directly in combat.
The success of the intercept, and the trajectory or travel distance of the Houthi land-based rockets point to an integrated, layered and multi-domain US Navy defensive system. The Houthi rockets may have initially been seen by infrared-satellite sensors able to detect a heat signature emerging from the launch or identified by an aerial gateway such as an F-35, US Air Force drone or surveillance plane in position to establish a target “track” on the missiles as they transited over the Red Sea toward Israel. These initial cues or detection mechanisms likely connected with Aegis Combat Systems arming US Navy destroyers equipped with radar, software, command and control and fire control systems sufficient to receive target-track specifics and successfully launch an interceptor such as the SM-2 from as close in as 90-miles. Given that the distance between Yemen and Israel is more than 1,000 miles, the Navy’s ability to track and destroy these threats from close-ranges suggests a level of precision-targeting was achieved.
The intercept demonstrates the current operational functionality of US Navy layered ship-defenses and further suggests that ship-based interceptors can be successfully positioned to track and destroy land-attacking threats from advantageous maritime off-shore locations.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
