Over a period of four months, the US Navy invested 100 "Standard" series anti-aircraft missiles in the Red Sea escort campaign and spent $200 million to $400 million on air defense operations. The operation was aimed at countering the missile and drone threat from Yemen's Houthi rebels.
Since October last year, the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers have shot down at least 21 Yemeni Houthi missiles (including anti-ship ballistic missiles) and 67 drones in the Red Sea region, according to data released by the US ** command. In addition, the British Royal Navy and the French Navy provided support.
The "Standard" series of anti-aircraft missiles used by the US Navy mainly include the "Standard-2" Block 3C and the "Standard-6" Block IA. Among them, the "Standard-2" Block 3C adopts a dual-mode guidance mode, equipped with an active radar seeker, and is equipped with an SPG-62 missile-borne radar, which can autonomously guide the target in the final attack phase, and can effectively counter most anti-ship missiles and drones used by the Houthis in Yemen.
However, Yemen's Houthis have adopted a highly sophisticated tactic of interspersing anti-ship ballistic missiles such as Persian Gulf-2 with attacks by anti-ship missiles and drones. Some anti-ship ballistic missiles have terminal penetration speeds of up to Mach 5 or even more, and the interception effect of the "Standard-2" Block 3C is limited, and the more expensive "Standard-6" Block IA must be used.
The US Navy is currently faced with the problem of the cost of interception and has begun to complain about the high cost. It may be worth it to intercept an anti-ship ballistic missile with a $6 million Standard-6 Block IA, but a $2 million Standard-2 Block 3C to intercept a Yemeni Houthi drone that costs only tens of thousands of dollars is seen as a waste. For the U.S. Navy, the Red Sea escort operation has turned into a costly and dangerous "fireworks display."
In addition to the cost, the US Navy's ** has also begun to have problems.
Theoretically, the Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyers are equipped with 96 MK41 vertical hair units. However, due to the need to take into account anti-ship, ground-to-ground and anti-submarine warfare, it is not possible to load all of them with anti-aircraft missiles of the "Standard" series. In addition, in order to increase the success rate of interception, it is common to launch multiple "standard" anti-aircraft missiles to intercept the same target.
Therefore, in addition to the US Navy warships currently performing tasks on the Red Sea route, the US Navy needs to arrange additional ships that can be rotated regularly to ensure the normal continuation of escort operations throughout the Red Sea.
In this regard, the British Royal Navy provides a typical negative case. The Type 45 guided missile destroyer "Diamond" of the British Royal Navy was forced to withdraw from the Red Sea escort operation due to the exhaustion of anti-aircraft missiles after successfully intercepting nine Yemeni Houthi drones.
For the U.S. Navy, the RIM-162 Modified Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) is a good solution. In one Mk41 type vertical hair unit, 4 improved Sea Sparrow missiles can be loaded, commonly known as "one pit and four bombs".
However, it is curious that at the moment the US Navy does not report on the use of improved Sea Sparrow missiles during escort operations in the Red Sea. It is not clear to us whether it is a lack of confidence in its technology or whether the US Navy warships involved in the escort are not yet equipped with such missiles.
This has also caused some U.S. ** to worry about the future capital ships of the U.S. military.
According to the U.S. "War Zone"**, the U.S. Navy's next-generation missile frigate "Constellation" class carries only 32 vertical hair units in order to reduce costs. In addition, the US Navy requires the Constellation-class missile frigates to be equipped with RUM-139 anti-submarine missiles, Tomahawk anti-ship missiles and AGM-158C long-range stealth anti-ship missiles, which will reduce the number of vertical launch units that can be used for the "Standard" series of anti-aircraft missiles, further weakening the air defense capabilities of the "Constellation" class missile frigates.
However, the biggest headache for the US Navy at present is still how to deal with the speed of missile consumption during escort operations in the Red Sea. After all, the production of anti-aircraft missiles of the "Standard" family is far from catching up with the use of UAVs in the hands of the Houthis in Yemen. Even if the U.S. Navy is willing to continue to invest in escort operations in the Red Sea, the "Standard" series of anti-aircraft missiles in its inventory may not be sufficient.
The good news for the U.S. Navy is that Germany, Greece, France, and Italy have decided to form a new Red Sea task force and plan to arrive on the Red Sea route in the near future, which will ease the operational pressure on the U.S. Navy. However, it remains to be seen how this NATO task force will ultimately perform and whether it will be able to support the US Navy.