New Threat? Houthis Launch Surface Drone Attack Boats

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

US Navy surface ships have eliminated most if not all Houthi missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea, a reality which suggests layered ship defenses are reaching breakthrough levels of maturity and technological advances.

US Navy destroyer-fired guns, interceptors and perhaps other countermeasures have consistently proven successful against what has become a series of ongoing “routine” attacks on US and commercial vessels operating in the Red Sea. Carrier launched F/A-18s may have also provided defensive counterfire, according to Central Command in some instances, however the majority of the defenses appear to have come from US Navy surface warships on patrol in the Red Sea.

While drone attacks, missiles and even drone swarms have proven easy to defend thus far … what about explosive-packed unmanned attack surface drones? The Houthis are now detonating unmanned surface vessels in international shipping lanes, a method of attack which could introduce new complications for ship defenses.

“A Houthi one-way attack unmanned surface vessel, or USV, detonated in international shipping lanes. Fortunately, there were no casualties and no ships were hit, but the introduction of a one-way attack USV is of concern,” Navy Vice. Adm. Brad Cooper, Commander, United States Naval Forces Central Command, said recently according to a transcript from NAVCENT, Naval Forces Central Command.

This is a new threat presented by the Houthis, and it makes sense given that air-fired missiles and drones have proven ineffectual. The steady series of successful intercepts suggest US Navy ship defenses are fortified by accurate and timely surveillance and intelligence information regarding the launch, trajectory and location of attack air threats such as missiles and drones. However, what about surface attack drones? The US Navy has already shown it can use guns, interceptors and even helicopters to destroy attacking swarms of manned small boats, but what about unmanned drone attack boats?

Houthi Drone Boat Risk

Should an enemy drone be seen from sufficient stand-off distance, then destroying it from the air or ship-deck before it moves within attack range of a surface ship seems quite manageable. However, what about a small swarm of drone boats armed with explosives and directed to collide with a US Navy surface warship? Unlike manned small boats which were quickly destroyed from the air, as there were only four in a previous Houthi attack, unmanned attack boats might be able to approach in much larger numbers across disaggregated formations. This is the intent of any kind of small boat attack, as the concept is to crowd, blanket or simply overwhelm ship defenses by attacking from multiple angles at once from fast-strike positions. Deck-mounted guns can only shoot in one general direction at a time, so the idea with a surface drone swarm attack or manned small boat offensive would be to simultaneously strike a surface ship from multiple angles. It is certainly “conceivable” that the Houthis may have an ability to launch a small swarm of attack drone boats, a threat possibility which introduces a number of relevant variables.