After nine hours of fierce fighting, the confrontation between the US military and the Houthis on the battlefield finally came to an end. In this conflict, the U.S. military's record is obviously quite remarkable: they successfully shot down 19 drones sent by the Houthis, which undoubtedly weakened the Houthi fighting force to a certain extent.
However, if we dig deeper into the economic losses behind this battle, a shocking fact is revealed. According to market calculations, the cost of each drone of the Houthis is about $20,000. Therefore, the total value of 19 drones is nothing more than $380,000. By comparison, the missiles consumed by the U.S. military in combat are extremely expensive, each worth up to $2 million.
This means that while the U.S. military has achieved remarkable results on the battlefield, the price they have paid has been extremely heavy from an economic point of view. Even counting only the cost of missiles, the losses of the US military amounted to at least $38 million, which far exceeded the losses of the Houthis.
The result of this comparison makes one feel that in this seemingly resounding victory for the US military, the Houthis actually achieved huge results at a very small cost. On economic paper, the Houthis are undoubtedly the real winners in this battle. This also reminds us once again that in war, victory does not only depend on victory or defeat on the battlefield, but also on how to exchange the minimum cost for the maximum benefit.