Summary and Key Points: Iran has supplied Yemen’s Houthi rebels with advanced missiles and drones, enabling over 100 maritime attacks, but they have failed to strike any U.S. Navy vessels.
-The unsuccessful attacks reflect the advanced, layered defensive capabilities and preparation of the U.S. Navy.
-Despite possessing Iranian-supplied missiles like the Burkan-2H and Quds cruise missile variants, the Houthis have struggled to achieve precision hits against moving targets.
-Advanced Iranian missiles, with increasing accuracy and sophisticated guidance systems, underscore how effective U.S. countermeasures have been.
-Intercepted shipments of Iranian arms highlight the close military relationship between Iran and the Houthis, emphasizing regional security challenges.
Why Can’t Iran’s Precision Missiles Hit U.S. Navy Ships? The Houthi Mystery Explained
Iran and Iran-backed groups have supplied the Houthis with arms for many years now. This development culminated in the Houthis deciding in 2023 to consistently launch attacks against commercial ships, US Navy ships, and other vessels transiting the Red Sea.
With many attacks over more than a full year, why have the Houthis failed to strike a single US Navy vessel? While Houthi attacks hit several commercial ships, not a single drone or missile attack against a US Navy ship was successful.
This reality pertains to the successful training, war preparation, and layered ship-defense weapons used by the US Navy, yet it also raises interesting questions about the Houthi missiles. The Houthi arsenal does contain some reasonably high-tech, precision-guided, Iranian-provided missiles, so their inability to hit any US ships is a testament to the growing sophistication of US Navy weaponry and doctrine.
What kinds of weapons have the Houthis been firing? And what types of technologies might they be operating with? A 2024 Defense Intelligence Agency report called “Seized at Sea” offers a comparative analysis of known Iranian weapons and weapons components interdicted in transit to the Houthis in Yemen in January 2024.
“Between 2015 and 2024, the United States and its partners have interdicted at least 20 Iranian smuggling vessels, seizing ballistic, cruise, and surface-to-air missile (SAM) components, anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and thousands of assault rifles, rocket components, and other illicit weapons destined for the Houthis.
The Houthis probably have used Iran-supplied weapons to conduct more than 100 attacks against land-based targets in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen and dozens of attacks targeting ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the text of the DIA report states.
DIA Report
For instance, the DIA analysis shows photos of the Iranian “Noor” family of anti-ship cruise missiles.
The report reveals how identical missile components used for “Noor” missiles were intercepted en route to the Houthis. Additional parallels were identified between Iranian Qiam missile engines seized at sea and recovered parts from actual Houthi-fired missiles.
“Iranian Qiam engines seized from an Iranian smuggler on 11 January near the coast of Somalia are consistent with Houthi Burkan-2H engines recovered from a 2017 Houthi attack in Saudi Arabia. The combustion chamber (1), nozzle (2), and turbopumps (3) of the engines interdicted in January 2024 match the physical characteristics shown with the engine recovered in Saudi Arabia,” the DIA report says.
A Houthi ballistic missile known as the Burkhan-2 is the same as the Iranian Qiam, a consistency verified by the DIA report and cited in a study from the Wilson Center on Houthi arsenal. The Houthi Barkan-3 is listed with a range of 1,200km.
“As of mid-2024, the Houthis had launched more than 100 attacks against Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Yemeni adversaries as well as dozens of attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden – all with weapons from Iran. The Houthis possessed missiles with claimed ranges of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and aerial drones with claimed ranges of up to 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles),” the Wilson Center report states.
Guidance?
Historically, Iranian ballistic missiles have not been regarded as very accurate, meaning they lacked the precision and guidance technology sufficient to pinpoint locations or truly threaten moving ship targets.
This has been changing quickly in recent years, and Iran reportedly operates the Khorramshahr 1, 2, and 4 medium-range ballistic missile with a report CEP of 30 meters. Should this be true, Iran currently operates precision-guided ballistic missiles able to travel up to 300 km and strike targets within 30 meters of accuracy at least 50-percent of the time.
Given the well-documented Iranian contribution to the Houthis arsenal, it would not seem surprising that in public parades in 2022 and 2023, the Houthis unveiled variants of the Iranian Quds cruise missile. These parallels were carefully studied and released in an interesting analytical report from IISS.
“In parades in 2022 and 2023, the Houthis unveiled additional ASCMs, including what appeared to be two anti-ship versions of the Iranian Quds/351 LACM. One version is allegedly equipped with a radar-homing seeker (Sayyad), and the other has an electro-optical/infrared seeker (Quds Z-0). Based on the range of the original Quds and on Houthi statements, both systems could have a range of at least 800 km,” the text of the IISS report states.
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in 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.
