The recent Red Sea conflict has revealed America's deadliest shortcoming, the cost of using missiles against Houthi drones. According to reports, the United States began to worry about the use of Standard-2 anti-aircraft missiles worth $2.1 million to intercept Yemeni drones worth only $500-2000. Although the United States managed to shoot down 38 Houthi suicide drones and multiple anti-ship missiles, it also came at a high cost. The US military's anti-aircraft missiles are expensive, while the Houthis are equipped with a large number of cheap drones and anti-ship missiles, making the difference in cost obvious.
The Standard-6 ship-to-air missile is more expensive as a more advanced alternative. South Korea recently received US approval for the purchase of 38 SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles with a total value of 6500 million US dollars, with an average of 17 million US dollars each, while the Chinese Hongqi-9B anti-aircraft missile with comparable performance only costs one million yuan. Therefore, in real combat, in order to ensure the success rate of interception, it is usually necessary to use two or more anti-aircraft missiles against one attacking missile. In addition, the lack of manufacturing capacity in the arts also made it difficult to meet its needs in wartime. In the Russia-Ukraine war, the United States has experienced a serious shortage of ammunition, resulting in Ukraine facing a growing shortage of ammunition and ammunition. This exposes the serious inadequacy of the manufacturing capacity of the United States.
In addition to the problem of the cost of missiles, the United States is also lagging behind in the field of hypersonic and hypersonic missiles. At present, most of the land-attack missiles and anti-ship missiles equipped by the United States are subsonic. However, subsonic missiles have a relatively weak penetration capability in the face of countries with strong air defense.
At the same time, the development of hypersonic missiles in the United States has been slow and has not been put into service as planned. Compared to China and Russia, the United States is significantly lagging behind in the field of hypersonic missiles. In fact, even countries like Iran have successfully developed hypersonic missiles, which could potentially be supplied to the Houthis. Relatively speaking, the hypersonic missiles of the United States go through several years of waiting before they enter service.
Although the United States has advanced aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, stealth bombers and other equipment, if the key attack ** (missiles) are not sharp enough and the penetration capability is relatively weak, it will seriously weaken the advantage of the overall equipment strength of the US military.
The high cost of US equipment, insufficient manufacturing capacity, and backwardness in the field of hypersonic missiles have become the most fatal shortcomings of the US military and have seriously weakened the advantage of its overall military strength.
First, expensive anti-aircraft missiles** cost the United States dearly in the fight against Houthi drones and anti-ship missiles. Compared to the large number of cheap ** equipped by the Houthis, the cost of interception by the US military is significantly higher. This not only directly affects the US combat costs, but also increases the material consumption of the US military.
Second, the lack of manufacturing capacity in the arts and crafts industry makes it difficult to meet the needs of wartime. In the Russian-Ukrainian war, the United States has experienced a serious shortage of conventional** and ammunition**, which has directly led to a growing ** and ammunition gap in Ukraine. In the face of actual war demands, the United States has stood still and needs to rely on other countries' production lines to increase productivity, which clearly creates an obstacle to its ability to respond in wartime.
Finally, the backwardness of the United States in the field of hypersonic missiles makes its penetration capability relatively weak in the face of countries with strong air defense capabilities. In today's modern warfare, the importance of hypersonic missiles is becoming increasingly prominent, and the backwardness of the United States is bound to weaken its deterrence and attack capability on the battlefield. This has forced the United States to reassess its investment and R&D strategy in the field of missiles.
To sum up, the United States' most fatal shortcomings are the high cost of its equipment, insufficient manufacturing capacity, and backwardness in the field of hypersonic missiles. These problems have seriously weakened the overall military strength of the US military, putting it at a disadvantage in modern warfare. Therefore, the United States needs to increase investment and research and development in the military industry, as well as reevaluate its own response and combat strategy in the war, in order to maintain and enhance the competitive advantage of its military power.