US and UK forces have launched air strikes on multiple Houthi targets in Yemen.
These actions come in retaliation to the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping since November.
Footage from last night shows British Typhoon jets, armed with Storm Shadow cruise missiles, take off to join the US-led coalition to conduct air strikes against military targets in Yemen. pic.twitter.com/J2CZLTojQd
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) January 12, 2024
Here’s what you need to know.
- Targets included over a dozen sites in Sana’a, Hudaydah, Dhamar, and Saada.
- Houthi officials have declared that the US and UK will “pay a heavy price” for this “blatant aggression”.
- The Houthis have been targeting ships heading towards Israel in support of their Hamas allies.
- US President Joe Biden emphasised the potential for further actions to “protect our people and the free flow of international commerce”.
- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the strikes as “necessary and proportionate”.
- The Netherlands, Australia, Canada, and Bahrain also participated in the mission.
Four Royal Air Force Typhoon jets took off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, joining American missile strikes in Sanaa, Hodeidah, and Dhamar.
The targets included logistics centres, air defence systems and weapons storage sites. According to a Houthi-run news channel, Hodeida International Airport, Taiz International Airport, and the al-Dailami Air Base north of Sanaa were among the targets hit, in addition to an airport near Hajjah and a camp east of Saada.
In a statement, the Royal Air Force said:
“On Thursday evening, four RAF Typhoons launched from RAF Akrotiri to conduct strikes against military targets in Yemen. Houthi rebels have been targeting merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones – putting lives at risk, threatening the global economy and destabilising the region
Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have increased 500% between November and December. The threat has become so great that major shipping companies have ceased sailing in the region and insurance costs have risen ten-fold since early December.”
Firstly, I hope all personnel get home safely after a necessary action but we need to ensure there is no mission creep and stick with a simple plan of deterring attacks on shipping. Let’s hope a desperate PM doesn’t gamble on any sort of military adventure to save his useless and corrupt Government. Finally we may need to increase escort numbers in the area to 3 on station (and on rotation) to protect U.K. Shipping as we did at times with the Armilla patrol through the straits of Hormuz. Oh sorry I forgot we haven’t got an enough ships to… Read more »
Obviously the UK is “crap at everything” and has No Military capability however I wonder how many of the 200 countries on earth could deploy 4 Fighter bombers from a Sovereign airbase thousands of miles from home on a few hours notice to take out targets in a contested environment.
I’m counting two maybe three.
All a permanent member of the UN Security Council could contribute to strikes against 60 targets was four Typhoons against two targets. The Typhoons are land based. They are permanently based there and weren’t deployed at a moment’s notice from thousands of miles away. No sea borne elements participated. That’s the reality of the situation.
We have Typhoons permanently based at Akrotiri ?
We have had a flight of typhoons or F35 there since about 2015 to support operations in Syria and Iraq but it’s not a standard deployment like the Falklands.
Not enough to go round sadly 🙄
And there’s only a couple of them down there as well.
theyr ther with the imaginary fleet of F 35’s an type 45′. To protect them as they’re in the air
How many UN permanent security council members have a series of sovereign bases all around the world strategically located next to almost every maritime choke point?
China can’t do this nor can Russia, France does not operate large foreign airbases and the US has a massive carrier fleet for this reason.
We could, and should an agreement with the south Africans for forward basing rights at simonstown would be a great opportunity to provide cover for the shipping.
What more was needed exactly?
Sure a few gen 4 or maybes 4.5 jets back up with a sub surface strike package isnt exactly over whelming for a few living room based RPG’s.
Ideal tasking job for our harrier and tornado squadrons to operate in.
We could always deploy an albion and send the RM TO GET THE CAMEL PUSHERS.
This myth we are crap at everything is deeply frustrating, fact is we are damn good at a damn lot that sadly we rarely acknowledge because the stuffing has been knocked out of us since our ‘glory’ days and we tend to accept we are thus second rate as a whole which uis rubbish. However sadly there is a rather too wide stream of incompetence that is allowed and/or encouraged which was exemplified yesterday at the Horizon where we saw a 46 year investigator of the Post Office revealed as one reporter put it as the worst investigator in the… Read more »
I think much of the issue is that we over estimate the Glory days. In the 1850’s when we were are the zenith of our economic power we still needed the French army to invade Crimea and it was an absolute s**t show. The UK still has incredibly capable armed forces compared to anyone other than the USA and even there we have been able to continuously make valuable contributions at scale to US. Since the 1980’s the UK has deployed a division sized force up to 8,000 miles on four occasions with substantial naval and air support. That’s not… Read more »
The problem Jim is that so many posting here keep saying “we have been able to do it” My concern always is that we are getting increasingly to the point where we will be UNABLE to take action. The RAF has dome wonderfully well to send four fighters to Yemen but imagine trying to do the same in a real wartime scenario. The RN could use a carrier but what we have lacks aircraft numbers, is light of good AEW and is barely defended. The army isn’t going to be spending a brigade, never mind a decision, anywhere soon, if… Read more »
Your right my friend 🍺🇬🇧
Two points here. You say the services work minor miracles, which they do. This gives the political types a nice warm feeling that all is well and they don’t need to do anything more for defence because it works when they ask it to. Nothing will change until someone in the hierarchy flatly refuses to accede to whichever request is made, on the grounds that “we haven’t got the kit or the manpower because you silly b*ggers have have cut too far”. The second point is why us? Where are the Egyptians in all this? A large part of their… Read more »
There are “unamed partners” apparently. For political reasons I’m guessing. Egypt may be one of these as it is taking an economic hit too.
We have strategic plans, but nobody with sufficient talent to act make it happen. Our whole foreign policy is vague to say the least. Putting a token vessel in the west Indies is farcical. When it has no structure to its actual missio. It’s ther in case it rains or gets windy. The u.k if it is serious about its commitment would have a base of operations. But, yet again, the base h.m.s miribar, no longer exists. Another fine mov of doing away with the West Indies station. Another horse and bolted scenario.
Global reach? We could barely get over the channel. I’m sick of hearing all that for the Media driven bullsh*t
We’re crap because we need the Americans to show us how to effectively operate a proper carrier based mission we should pull our own weight. And not expect someone else to do it for us
👍👍
Jim we did it this way because we have no other way of hitting the Houthi right now.
Yeah but we did it, And we could send a carrier there in a few weeks and do it another way.
The USA could only do this from a carrier. If it did not have a carrier in the region which it did not have for most of last year it would not have been able to do it.
Unless it used a UK sovereign base as its other airbases locations were not allowing access for this strike.
Indeed, have difficulty envisioning a more favorable scenario for a strategic bombing campaign. If hosted on Diego Garcia and provided both sufficient airframes (BUFFs and/ or Bones), and a sufficient supply of JDAMs, bombers could, in conjunction w/ carrier(s) air and SSGN(s), conduct offensive ops 24/7, until Houthi threat terminated w/ extreme prejudice. However, it would require a decisive POTUS. 🤔
With just that and 12 navy seals you managed to take over Afghanistan.
The USA leases an Airbase in Djibouti, the French, Japanese and China also have bases there… China is very quiet and tellingly so on this particular threat to trade…
Looking at SNA2024, they were showing off the MK70 deck launcher. Basically a MK41 that sits on deck & fires at an angle. They mocked it up for evolved Sparrow, but said it could be used for Tomahawk. If we put 2×2 MK70 on T45, we would be able to fire a token 4 Tomahawk. Give the T45 a limited land attack capability.
I certainly doubt the competence of HMG and I am nervous that in an election year with a Government sinking fast they might like a short war to give them an election bounce.
But if you can point out where I said the U.K. is crap at everything I will buy you a pint.
Never said you, I was talking about the general narrative that is spouted largely by the UK, Russian and Chinese media.
👍
Time for a few more Typhoons rather than a reduction? @Janes “France has ordered additional Dassault Rafale combat aircraft, the country’s Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu announced on 12 January. Lecornu said that 42 new aircraft will be acquired for the French Air and Space Force. “A new decisive step has been taken with the order for 42 Rafale for the air force. This is excellent news for our sovereignty, our security, and for our armies, which will benefit from additional Rafales with modernised operational capabilities,” Lecornu said, adding that the EUR5 billion (USD5.4 billion) investment will come… Read more »
I’d love to have the original envisaged order…. Great assets, pretty much the best multi role aircraft of all time.
Our poor pilots have been made to endure half a day in the air to bomb a bunch of camel herders. If the melons are the MOD and the government had more than one Braincell between them wed have a carrier parked in a nea place actually doing what it was designed to do, and not just a big toy we like to show off global Britain? Global laughing stock
Sad but true 👍
Yet another pointless political attack in election year.
You will need to explain why it is pointless to express an opinion about our Government. I wish it wasn’t true particularly as I voted for them but with a few honourable exceptions they are largely useless and corrupt.
It’s only a pointless attack to Geoff if your attacking the Tories. It’s fine if its the other way around;
You obviously haven’t been reading my posts over the last few months. The Tories and Labour are both useless when it comes to defence. Happy now?
Very well done to all on the Typhoon and Voyager forces. And everyone at RAF Akrotiri and the wider RAF/ RN and MOD staff that makes such strikes possible so far from home. 🇬🇧
👍
👍Takes some doing, that’s for sure.
It sure does. 👍
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Any bets on when the first pro Yemen march will be?
Probably today. It will involve thousands of white young men and women protesting that the Houthis are innocents and in some cases carrying the Hamas or Isis flag because they don’t know what they represent. It’s a delicious irony for the Houthis, Iranians and Hamas that people in the UK have protested on their behalf whilst they would like nothing better then the chance to kill the lot of them. Hamas, Houthis, Iranian factions are really pro white young women protesting. Don’t believe me? Take a plane to Tehran and go onto the streets carrying any sort of banner, let’s… Read more »
Sadly you have hit the nail squarely on the head!
👍🏻👏👏👏
Gutless politicians won’t even get water cannons to wash the scum.
Would you be happy for the UK to throw protesters into a cesspit? Is that how you would like us to behave?
all arranged by “Stop the War Coalition” a collection of navel-gazers, masochists, and Islamist sympathisers.
I see Corbyn has turned up at the Hague, and taken the side of South Africa.
No surprise is it. What irony that SA hardly a pinnacle of democracy and human rights itself esp in recent times and happy to give moral support to Russian mass murder in Ukraine is at the forefront of this with the irony of using white lawyers to put the case. Funny old World. The Houthis exploiting the old forces of one of the most evil dictators in the World of the former overthrown corrupt President has ravaged a Country that in 2014 with its revived democrat new UN supported Govt was on the verge of economic revival.such marchers will care… Read more »
He’s a disgrace to the nation. An utter W⚓R.
No doubt someone will be organising it . 🍺
The Houthis were bombed relentlessly by the Saudis from 2015 to 2022. They retailiated by firing missiles at Saudi oil infrastructure including industrial installations in the Jarzan region. They have also attacked other Gulf states including Abu Dhabi. The Houthis are used to being bombed and as the possibility of Western strikes were very well telegraphed an advance, they will have had plenty of time to hide their missile launchers etc. In any case they will follow their orders from the IRGC. Undoubtedly, the mext missile/drone attack on the Western warships in the Red Sea will be a huge saturation… Read more »
It appears that last attack was in fact directed against the US and UK warships. That’s why we are hearing the phrase ‘self defence’. Heappy was on Sky News this morning and referred to ‘a sustained attack on HMS Diamond.’
We dont know all the details yet, but Diamond managed to fight off the Houthi’s masss attack without sustaining any damage. Most impressive. We will have gained a great deal of intel about the performance of the ship’s systems. And so will the Ayatollahs and their IRGC
The people making the decision are the people who know the details of what happened and they have decided to fire back.
No damage sustained because it’s a warship ship tailored to fend off such attacks but millions of dollars on missiles being spent each day to keep it that way.
Having the bar of we will only fire back if our warship is hit makes no sense to me.
I listened to a so called “Defence expert” on BBC News and he stated that Diamond had to use its 30mm Oerlikon gun to defend itself.
At that point I switched off as she doesn’t have Oerlikon guns on Diamond but if it was that close the CWIS would. I just wish she had a set off NSM fitted so she can shoot back.
Fitted with not for.
Rules of engagement are always a bit murky at times like this when you can fire, and when you can’t, l believe taking the aggressive stance is best, shoot first, worry later,our ships should all be cruise missile capable and able to, with garnered intelligence, strike back immediately. I want to see the u.k task MBDA and BAE to come up with a home designed and produced, club K Russian Like system deployable where it can be used. In a CS.G, it would improve the ‘bite’ of the group tenfold.
Kudos to Diamond’s crew 👏 and thanks to her weapons and systems designers 🙏. Congrats also to the US fleet. We are in for a tough 12 months, but by the end of the year the Gaza situation will be sorted and we will be looking forward to new frigates. We just have to hang in there. The air strikes will have degraded Houthi capability for a while but may need to be repeated. For our part we need to add at least one more ship to the patrol I think and arrange to maintain that 2 ship contribution. We… Read more »
Shows how they need that extra security of SeaCeptor. It will be interesting when more comes out about this mass attack (and any future ones) and how it was handled and with what and when. Another point is a learning curve from the Ukraine War. The great success they are having (indeed both) is longer range small drones that are continually hunting down moving targets so that they can call in a geo located attack within minutes on firing positions. Satellites are quite limited as to what they can achieve in this respect despite the hype. So the question is… Read more »
Agree Ceptor is brilliant weapon. Great decision to add it to T45. The Ukrainians are probably the world’s experts at downing drones. Whatever they are doing we should do same in a naval version. Have to say I’m not caught up on the kind of network drone co-operation you describe. Bit scary. We must know how to do it though, sounds a big like what a Brimstone salvo does?
I suspect the US has already made pretty clear just how much hell they have to hand. The TLAM missiles they used were from both surface and sub surface units. The Submarine was the USS Florida which is an Ohio SSGN with 156 TLAM onboard.
That’s a bloody big stick to waggle, and Iran has to be taking notice.
This was actually a very small Tap on the shoulder compared to what they could do.
The houthis won’t have a lot of missiles an what they do have, Will be located by satellite or ground based intelligence.Then neutralised.
Reported in the New York Times from anonymous US govt source that the strikes got 20-30% of the Houthi missiles / drones. Always to be expected – they are on mobile launchers. There will be more strikes.
Stuff the Iranians, it’s their turn to get it next
That is up for debate, the Saudis may have all the gear, but they certainly have no idea (An adage I can subscribe to virtually each and every Arabic army) Fine oppressing the sick, lame and lazy but when it comes to somebody willing to go toe to toe with them , then 9.5 times out of 10 then lose. (looks at Israel) Regards the Saudi /Yemen conflict, whilst the Saudis do own an impressive array of weaponry not once did they hit the Houthi as hard or as accurately as they were hit a few hours ago. Its why they… Read more »
Well thanks for your interesting reply. I suspect that what are referred to as the “Houthi” may well actually be IRGC operating the equipment using intel supplied by the Ayatollahs. If so, we have just given Iran a clear warning – attack our maritime interests and trade route through the Red Sea and we will retaliate.
Interesting that for once the American Republican party have announced support for this strike. It seems sleepy Joe may have woken up
Sleepy Joe has only woken up for maybe 10 minutes and only with one eye open. Don’t worry he’ll be back to sleep and ignoring the world to the same extent as normal.
What’s crazy is that the USA, economically is doing ok under Bidden. Just internal infighting, USA is a very divided country. The division is what the republicans are playing off.
Trump keeps stirring them up. Stealing seriously classified documentation covering nuclear weapons strategy is a “witch hunt”. Global heating and the climate crisis is a “Chinese hoax” Undertaking a humungous real estate fraud involving $350m in New York is “political persecution” Organising the Jan 6 insurrection was ok because the President can do what he likes. Demanding that senior US military officers be executed is “retribution” Trump will withdraw from NATO if he wins again. Why do you think the war criminal Putin undertook his “special military operation?” – he knew Trump and his MAGA republican cult would cut off… Read more »
Fundamentally true, my only slight feeling of security is a US source yesterday saying that any US removal from NATO would need Senate/Congressional support but then we were told years back by similar figures that Trump wouldn’t be elected as Republican Leader and if he was he could never become President. Hardly reassuring when idiots like Truss both are hawks against Russia yet actively support the re election of Trump. I think this question needs to be put to Farage too so that the electorate can be informed of just what the implications are. After all it’s far more important… Read more »
While Congress has passed a law saying the president can’t withdraw from NATO it unfortunately does not make it the case.
The president can easily issue an order stating that article 5 no longer apply and order US forces to withdraw from NATO command structure.
The US may remain in NATO the way that France was in NATO up until the 2000’s.
I have replied to your interesting post but unfortunately it’s been moderated
I think if Trump is elected and everything goes south as feared, there might be a Brexin as all hands will be needed on deck together
David wrote:
“” I suspect that what are referred to as the “Houthi” may well actually be IRGC operating the equipment using intel supplied by the Ayatollahs.””
That’s a given, I mean overnight goat headers gained the ability to launch complex UAV and ballistic missile attacks not only hundreds of miles away, but to also hit ships at sea
Google:
Iran Confirms Its Covert Mothership In The Red Sea Was Attacked
For more on that
And target the AESA radar on Patriot missile systems with loitering drones (that was a surprise for the books)
Maybe the Republicans may have woken up that all these threats are directly or indirectly inter related instead of thinking that you can challenge the Chinese while appeasing their mates the Russians in Europe. But I suspect a lot more learning yet. Maybe the Russians call for a UN debate and the claim the strikes were totally uncalled for may just be the first of many lessons however along a long hard road to deprive them of their naivety and delusion. Better or the World will be a very different place in a generation and they have to explain just… Read more »
About time as well
Finally, one of the reasons why the Iranians were happy to sign a peace deal last year with the Saudis was due to the fact that since the SAF received their new F15Sas, they using their AESA radar became quite proficient at knocking down UAVS heading north as did their Patriot missile batteries regards Ballistic missiles Meaning they realised that the Saudi had learnt to mitigate their attacks, which is possibly why they carried out a number of mass attacks on Saudi oil sites, in which to have the Saudis lean towards signing a peace deal. Google F-15 hit Qasef-2k drone… Read more »
I’m really surprised why the big exporting nations like India and China are not involved with the US coalition. Surely the increased costs of shipping goods is hurting their exports? Personally I hope it does drive up the price of Chinese goods to the point where companies here in the UK and Europe look for suppliers closer to home.
Good point, I seem to remember much hype about Iraq’s battle hardened army in 1991 and how British and American forces would suffer.
Turns out they may have been battle hardened but they were made from chocolate.
Israel has garnished a reputation over the years for military prowess however the opposition has always been questionable at best although the Jordanians did ok against them.
No surprise who trained them.
Of course those forces were fundamentally secular. The Houthis are at their core at least fundamentalists with directions from God.
Hi Farouk, Yet another excellent and informative post (your incite into MOD recruitment was simply superb). Completely agree with you about the majority of Arab Military being a Paper Tiger (lovely Derbyshire expression is “Fur coat, but no knickers 🥴). You just need to look at the Iranian Armed Forces under the Shah, or Syria vs Israel. The only bit I’d question are that there are exceptions to that general rule. Egypt caught the Israelis napping in 1973. Israel had fortified their side of the canal with bunkers, sand berms and minefields. But it never dawned on them that Egyptian… Read more »
Interesting to listen to Frank Gardner this morning who said when the Saudi offensive started he was at a Saudi Airbase and told by a military representative the Saudi equivalent that ‘it will be over by Christmas’, take that how you will. He also said that the Houthis are far better fighters than the Saudis which supports your take. only time will tell if the present action is the right decision but I fear thx to Russia, Iran and increasingly China we are going to be faced with these scenarios far more often. Taking no action will eventually become untenable… Read more »
Excellent post thanks
Your suggesting the US and UK just surrender now to the great Houthis rebels then because the Saudi Airforce could not stop them before?
Will we just close the Red Sea and Suez then?
Jim of course we will not surrender to the Houthi rebels. Just like the US and UK didn’t withdraw from Afghanistan when facing the Taliban. And the UK didn’t withdraw in a hurry from Aden in 1967 when these Houthi rebels Grandads took on 30,000 British Troops, 12 Squadrons of RAF planes and a permanent RN Carrier Task Force of the coast for 4 long years.
Look up the Aden confrontation. It’s not pretty reading.
How many missiles does Diamond have left I wonder it’s at moments like this that one truly sees the damage done to our forces in unexpected and unpredictable crisis that politicians achieve by their poor decision making based almost solely on the fact that they won’t need the timely in service dates, qualities and weapons they fail to provide them to save money.
It also demonstrates that the T45 is a world-class capability, and the RAF can strike with precision thousands of miles from home.
Wouldn’t it have been good if Diamond could get missile reloads from Fort Vic!
Graham she can’t be reloaded at Sea not even the Yanks can reload a VLS at Sea. I don’t even think Fort Victoria can handle them onboard as there is no requirement as it’s impossible.
So she needs to pop up to Oman and use Al Duqm (as long as Oman agrees) or it’s a very long trip to the Med.
If I were to make a bet it will be a rotation rather than reload.
Thanks for that. As an engineer, that would seem to me to be a massive design weakness.
So far Diamond has been credited with 8 drone kills, So at a minimum she is down to 40 Asters left, With no RFA tanker in the area she’ll be coming along side frequently where it is likely she will be rearmed.
Not as often as you think, the USN can refuel her with their Tanker, but after 2 / 3 weeks she will need replenishing and rearmed. There is a Joint Logistics base the RN has access to is at Al Duqm in Oman @1000 miles each way. And we would need to airlift the supplies and everything else there and all the necessary trained armourers / loaders to reload the Sylver VLS with Aster missiles. That is of course if Oman allows us to, Otherwise it is a long trip to Bahrain (bad idea as you have to transit the… Read more »
26th December a RN ship (Diamond) spoofing as RFA Lyme Bay had made a stop at Duqm, The previous day HMS Lancaster is believed to have passed through Strait of Hormuz. 28th December Diamond left Duqm and Lancaster spoofing as RFA Lyme Bay entered on 30th December. 4th January Lancaster passed back through Strait of Hormuz and apparently still alongside in Bahrain. This info all from Marinetraffic
Hopefully Diamond can hold out until Richmond arrives so she can go restock again.
The locals i.e Saudi, Egypt e.t.c should be sorting it out, not us it’s not something that has just popped up, it’s been going on for years, it’s about lost trade and money, impact on economies it’s not a military thing at all.
I wonder if we’ll now see a SSN hot footing it’s way down there to add uk tomahawks to the mix along with more jets to Cyprus.
Hopefully it’s just a 1 off and the Houthis take the hint but I’m doubtful.
Problem will be for the West is there’s a very limited number of targets as the Saudis will have destroyed most of them and finding and hitting a truck is not going to be easy.
I fear the same. It’s another Afghanistan situation, a failed state full of illiterate militants backed by Iran. Most won’t have teeth, but they’ll be keen to fight until the cows come home. This time it’s next to a world trade route, and not in the far flung Hindu Kush mountains.
We need more countries to help, and not just token moral support and “joint statements”.
Chris wrote: “I fear the same. It’s another Afghanistan situation, a failed state full of illiterate militants backed by Iran.” Personally I feel that the currently the Houthi are more bark than their bite and to equate the situation with the Houthi and the Taliban is stretching it a little bit. To see where I am coming from we have to look at History, in the past there were two Yemen’s, North and South (The North occupied around ¼ of Yemen in the mountainous Western part of the country, and is predominantly Shia Muslim , the rest of the country is… Read more »
I hope you are right but Frank Gardner described them as the de facto Govt over much of the Country which doesnt give me much confidence.
Spy wrote: “”I hope you are right but Frank Gardner described them as the de facto Govt over much of the Country “” ive no time for Frank Gardner, ex TA (read his wiki to see how he bigs up his time in green) presumed he knew it all and got a job at the BBC. Whilst reporting from Saudi Arabia ignored the police and went into a really rough area of town resulting in his team getting shot, him paralysed and his cameraman murdered. Whilst on the floor , he screamed at the shooters not to kill him as… Read more »
Well the officially recognised Govt is I believe in Abu Dhabi, which says it all really.
Ah, you don’t play 4D chess like Putin and Xi.
The route to success is to cripple your domestic economy for few digs at the US lead world order.
Somehow this will bring victory in the long run
I don’t understand it either but I’m not as smart or cunning as the supreme leaders of Russia and China 😀
I also can’t ride a bear topless 😀
Telling that the French didn’t do anything and probably won’t. They’ve got an airforce as capable as the RAF and could easily deploy Rafael with scalp missiles to hit Yemeni targets.
Are you referencing the fact that the French also had a warship with the US/UK naval group?
The French vessel is operating on its own not with the US UK naval group. The French and Germans want an EU a mission.
Strange people the French. They wont join anything led by the USA.
They won’t join anything led by anyone other than themselves, looks at FCAS with Germany.
Major difference is that Afghanistan is in the middle of no where and it falling in to anarchy makes little difference to the rest of the world. NATO defeated the Taliban and choose to leave because there was never and end in sight to the war and no benefit in staying.
This is very different because they are cutting a vital economic artery and posing a direct threat. Also Yemen is not that big and it’s next to the sea so logistics are easy.
Did NATO really defeat the Taliban?
It’s bad for business 🤷🏻 And they have to speak English or get ignored.
Taliban is a word and you can’t defeat a word. They certainly knocked 10 bells out of the armed people claiming to be Taliban and took control of the entire country.
The Taliban today is very much not the same as the Taliban of 2001.
The allies will need enduring overflight via ISTAR assets and drones. That’s something we should be good at. I’m not sure the Saudi airforce is much good. As Farouk says all the tools but not a clue. The Houthis are up against the worlds best military (USA) with allied support. Hopefully we haven’t got special forces on the ground in Yemen as that would be very risky. If we do then they will need 24/7 on call air support and evac capabilities. Via army rangers support. Perfect job for a LPD with a few Chinooks onboard to support. Yes those… Read more »
Yep he wants our RM to swim to the Beach .🙄
The RN has very very limited Tomahawk missile inventory. I’d prefer holding those back for a hot war against a peer or near peer eg China or Russia.
Besides which what will 8 do when the USS Florida has 156 🤨
Grear job by all but interesting issue for me is no Stormshadow. Inventory running low and getting close to min war stocks or high confidence about environment?
Assume no nead for standoff due to low threat AD environment?
Edit not working! NEED!
Typhoon is actually pretty good at operating in higher threat environments and Paveway has a good stand of range, although it’s not public other than it’s greater than 10 miles.
Most people underestimate just how good Paveway 4 is. It’s one of those whinges against f35b that is a bit over the top and that ignores the fact the RAF tend to use the Paveway 4 as its preferred ordinance.
Agreed. Paveway 4 is an extremely accurate and flexible weapon. With greater standoff range that many don’t realise.
Yep, I’ve learned as much concerning P4 from Robert B, who actually knows what he is talking about compared to many here, and has highlighted this often.
Indeed it only takes people to do a bit of research on what the RAF has dropped and what the outcomes were…and the RAF tends to drop a lot of Paveway 4. I suspect they will keep dropping them even in a peer war..the Houthi are hardly a bunch of farmers with pitchforks..these guys are serious..as is they were a large part of the standing army of a nation that rebelled and stole all the kit…as well as being supplied by Iran…let’s be honest they pretty much beat Saudi..by being able to take more pain and deliver pain back so… Read more »
I’m quite confident in suggesting there are other contributory factors regards cyber, ISTAR, EW domain regards SEAD and operating in a high threat environment that enable that western expertise that we are not privy to, that give us that edge. And which won’t be revealed until the “big day” which we hope never arrive.
Indeed the evidence is there that operationally western air forces can operate in places other airforces cannot…let’s hope the lessons sink in…and our politicians don’t dilute it all by being idiots….( the political domain is just as key in Chinese thinking as the kinetic domains of warfare..so unless the politicians back up the kinetic warfare deterrent..with political deterrent we are still on the slippy slope). Winning the next war is about making sure it never happens.
Did you know there is a RAAF E7 Wedgetail pootling around the Eastern border of NATO this week. Maybe it’s freeing up other assets or doing a demo for NATO.
Nice to have friends with good s**t to lend us 😀
Morning mate. No, I didn’t.
Yeah it’s one of the factors that tends to make people overestimate the Russians and Chinese relative to US and UK. We don’t talk about capabilities especially in EW because we want it to be a surprise. There was chit chat about GCHQ knocking out moscows power grid following the poison attack on the UK. It would not surprise me if this is a capability we have. Same goes for AESA radar on F35 and soon Typhoon being able to upload code to enemy radars through their beam. Just look at that Pantsir that tracked a stomshadow visually but appeared… Read more »
We have capabilities that are not public. That much is obvious, and sensible. HMG admitted as such regards offensive Cyber but says nothing more than that area is the province of the National Cyber Force.
When we send a carrier I hope it has some self defence to bring to the party as well as RFA Fort Victoria. Could we assemble the ships to defend it though and escort convoys?
We have a carrier logistics base in Oman, no need for the Fort to be sent. They are too precious now to waste.
If Paveway can do the job, why use a very expensive cruise missile ?
We striking building and air bases facilities against an enemy with limited air defence. Paveway IV is the better weapon.
“US and UK will “pay a heavy price” for this “blatant aggression”.”
The sheer arrogance of the Houthis, playing the innocent.
Let’s hope the airstrikes hit enough ammo dumps to diminish the attacks on shipping.
It will be interesting to see what Iran does next.
Much will depend on Israel and if they attack Hezbollah. I get the impression that the Iranian government wants to keep its head down. Lots of problems at home to worry about. However there will be factions that want to escalate.
To be honest I’m surprised that Hezbollah has not yet gone all out against Israel when it was fully engaged in Gaza. It will be very interesting to see what Isreal does once it considers the threat in Gaza managed…I think it’s possible that Isreal may as you say attack Hezbollah for its snipping at Israel.
Jonathon wrote: “”To be honest I’m surprised that Hezbollah has not yet gone all out against Israel when it was fully engaged in Gaza.”” After all the work Iran put into building up its forces in both Lebanon (Hezbollah and Hamas) and in Syria (PMF and PMU units from Iraq) building up weapon supply depots across Syria such as a UAV base at theT-4 airfield near Palmyra or the huge Imam Ali underground base in the east of Syria next to the border with Iraq Google The Imam Ali base in AlBukamal – A Central Military Anchor in the Iranian… Read more »
Some good points and as you say from a purely kinetic point of view I fully expected Hezbollah to pile in and I suspect Israel was very worried as well ( many people just refuse to see how at risk Israel is and it’s not the all powerful bully, but a nation fighting for its life). We often forget the political warfare element in the west as we tend to refuse to engage in it…political warfare is anathema to nations that believe in free speech and have free press ( they are also very open to attack by political warfare… Read more »
Agree, Israel is not going to continue to let Iranian proxies build massive force across its boarder anymore.
Hamas brutal attacks changed everything for them.
Very much agree, most people simply refuse to see that threat as Israel sees it..if the UK or US was in the same geostrategic situation we probably would have gone all out a while ago to be honest…it’s not like the Anglo-Saxon world has been know for restraint when threatened.
Now, it is time for the US and Isreal to take a leaf out of the Late Simon Wiesenthal’s book, play the long game, and decapitate the Head off the Snake. Otherwise, I feel that the Medieval Islamic Death Cult inspired violence that continues to strangle any prospect of hope and prosperity in the Middle-East will never end.
I think we have to sort out our own political problems first by un-brainwashing and pushing back the false narratives of the Islamist’s “Woke allies”.
The whole of Europe’s trade is at risk of being affected by attacks from Yemen.
Where is their contribution to securing global trade?
Be interesting to know CCP’s take on it as so much of their trade with Europe+ passes through the Red sea. Though they must love the distraction it provides to the UKR & Taiwan issues. I suspect Putin is egging it on to help his SMO.
The west desperately needs to learn how to negotiate peace & endure prolonged conflict rather than tiring & giving up(Trump tactic adopted by Biden, posibly Putins instructions to Trump?). Not mutually exclusive. The UK needs to relearn how to build & maintain an effective conventional military deterrent force.
Random thoughts. Is it wise to cut Typhoon numbers, when we don’t have huge numbers?. Instead of cutting the 30 tranche 1, should we cut 15 & use them for spares, while updating the other 15 to the Spanish t1 standard & keeping them in service as Southern QRA & war reserve?
Easy answer, no it’s foolish beyond anything I’ve seen. The west is heading for a major war, unless it can show a profound level of deterrent ( and for that you need will, capacity and the ability to show these). Nothing should be cut at present until either, we end this period of instability and challenge ( it’s not ending until probably around 2040 at a minimum) something is completely obsolete or nackered and it’s been replaced. Any cuts show a lack of will and reduced capacity and anything that weakens the deterrent against war is profoundly foolish and may… Read more »
No. It’s a stupid idea but we’ll no doubt do it anyway. We’re not going to get any sense out of any politician, Tory or Labour, over the next few months. The first can’t spend and the second won’t spend.
Reckless, stupid & extremely dangerous, as have been most if not all cuts of the last decade.
I’ve been reading commments on various news websites just out of curiosity, and a lot of people seem to be against the strikes for the reason that they don’t want us involved in another conflict. I agree with the point of not getting involved in other peoples conflicts, but I do think we need to respond to any threats to our trade, whether that be piracy or hostile states/actors. As an island nation, protecting trade has always been one of the most import things our armed forces do. If we were to sit back and do nothing, it would make… Read more »
I wonder how they will feel when the lights in the UK start going off because the Qatar LNG tankers that keep the lights on in the UK have to go around Africa and they realise there is not enough of them.
Well I’m not going to say I’m pleases as that is the wrong word, after all the best win is the one where you never have to go kinetic, kill people and risk your own people. But it’s good that the UK was able to contribute to this, it’s important that the west show unity when it’s attacked ( and the west was attacked..no ships heading to china were attacked or Chinese escorts). I must admit I’m surprised the UK managed to get permission to overfly the required Arab states to get there. I honestly thought the concerns around their… Read more »
It probably only flew over Egypt who will loose billions in Suez transit fees if the Red Sea is closed.
They may have flown over Israel as well, I’m sure such matters will be left ambiguous.
I’m going to get my maps out later….it will be interesting to see..but the aircraft would either have to fly through Sudan airspace…and they are very pro Iran and china and anti west..so I cannot see that or via Saudi airspace..and I would be very surprised Saudi agreed ( due to public perception and its own risks around conflict with the houthis or fly down the middle of the Red Sea…so they must have threaded the needle of international waters and gone down the middle after getting overfly permission from Egypt..which is actually quite important and shows where Egypt is… Read more »
The route I’ve seen on War zone is they flew straight down the Red Sea
and turned left at the bottom👍
Yes, thats the obvious way to go. Avoids havinfg to seek overflight permissions.
With this going on now is HMG going to wake up and give our Military what’s needed ?
Nope, they will keep their heads buried in the sand and continue to cut cut cut. No hope of getting out of the death spiral
Sadly, military spending is not a vote winner in these post cold War dividend times.
Combine that with mps more concerned with remaining in power or bringing down the government of the day than good of the nation, and we are where we are.
You can’t knock the RAF taking 4 Typhoons from Akrotiri down to Yemen and back must have been a very well planned operation and is superb example of what our forces are capable of in an emergency. Let me put this into some context here, it’s @3,500 miles round trip so roughly 8 hours flight time. which is just under half the distance of Operation Black Buck but that was in a 5 crew Vulcan bomber (with a loo and somewhere to stretch). But these are single seat fighters and must have used 2 / 3 Voyager Tankers and carried… Read more »
If this becomes a long term engagement, Diego Garcia might have to come into picture as although I think it’s further away, nothing but sea to fly over.
I’m going to hum a nice tune and politely suggest you look at a Map. The whole reason Diego Garcia is a vital US strategic base is because it is remote and smack bang in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The US can base ships and supplies there with no one anywhere nearby to interfere. It’s a superb base for B52 Bombers to bomb just about anyone, that’s a B52 intercontinental bomber. However we just have single seat Typhoons and to bomb Yemen from there is exactly the same as bombing Halifax NS (Canada) from Scotland it’s over 2,500… Read more »
We needed to act.
Sunak’s got some neck, talking about protecting lives while people here die waiting for ambulances etc. Our whole defence is at rock bottom.
Putin says our strikes are unjustified. How about the Houthi attacks on international trade shipping or his attacks on UKR?
This is exactly the wrong time to be considering cutting the Albion amphibious & RM capabilities, or to have record few escorts & a tiny army.
Interesting interview with John Bolton on Sky News. He voiced the view that the Middle East situation will only be resolved when Iran understands that it pays a price which is bigger than the damage its proxies inflict on Israel and the West. Quote ‘would you rather go to war with Iran now or wait till it has nuclear weapons?’.
Why no second strikes since Thursday by the UK? Surely we are not short of ordnance.
Surprised we had any available.