By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The Pentagon is not saying much about what appears to be a Houthi-related shoot down of a US Reaper drone over Yemen, something not surprising given the security issues involved with something of this kind.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently acknowledged an “event” in Yemen but stopped short of offering any additional detail. Several news reports, including one from CNN, stated that the Houthi’s have in fact claimed responsibility for the attack.
“In terms of the Yemen event, we’re still looking into that, assessing that to see what happened, and so I don’t have anything further to offer you at this point in time,” Austin said to reporters while en route to India, according to a Pentagon transcript.
There could be an extremely significant reason for the US silence, as details related to these kinds of things are not likely to be discussed publicly when an examination of the event is still ongoing. Also, if the Pentagon did want to respond in some way, they certainly might not want to telegraph anything. The attack on a US Reaper did come just days after a US Navy destroyer intercepted missiles headed to Israel headed to Yemen.
Will the US do anything about this in terms of retaliation? Such a possibility certainly seems likely as Austin did also say that further attacks on US forces in the region would likely result in a US response.
“If the attacks against our forces don’t decrease or stop, we will take additional measures. And you know, as I said early on here, (inaudible), I think we’re going to do everything we can to protect our troops, and we are absolutely serious about that, Austin said.
Austin’s remarks do align with Pentagon actions recently, as the US appears to have taken Iranian-backed groups’ attack on US forces in Syria pretty seriously. US F-15s recently attacked and destroyed a facility in Syria used by Iranian-backed groups.
“U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense strike on a facility in Syria used by the IRGC and affiliated groups. We took these strikes in response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed proxy groups,” Austin said.
As for additional detail, it would clearly seem relevant for the US to know just where exactly the Reaper was shot down? Was it able to transmit any relevant ISR regarding Houthi weapons launch sites, facilities or weapons before it went down? The Reaper does not operate with extra fuel tanks and a universal weapons interface allowing it to fly with a much wider range of weapons, so the Pentagon is likely analyzing just what kinds of drone technologies might have fallen into Houthi hands. While attacking a drone does not consist of an effort to attack a human being, such a move does arguably amount to an attack on US forces. The Pentagon is not eager to get involved in the conflicts in the Middle East or “widen” the conflict in a measurable way, yet it does seem likely that overt, recognizable attacks on US forces and technologies will generate rapid lethal responses from the US military.
“We are responding to a number of attacks against our forces, and these are defensive strikes. They are not connected to what Israel is doing in its efforts against Hamas,” Austin said.
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.
