Houthi Shootdown Of US Drone: Pentagon May Take “Additional Measures” If Attacks Continue

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.