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.

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.”

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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168 COMMENTS

  1. 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 do that and anything else.

    • 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.

        • 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.

      • 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 World on that performance. And that’s the point we have much to much control at the top run by public school elitists who are not empowered through meritocracy who are far too happy through preference or incompetence tend to rule over others who are allowed to flourish through their own incompetence because those above aren’t far too often competent to judge their suitability to do their jobs or are tolerated because they are neither a threat and are compliant in doing as they are told. Only in emergencies it seems are the true heroes, competent people and our innate innovative spirit taken serious and allowed to progress into influential positions. The rest of the time the real contributors are kept anonymous and relatively powerless while the useful idiots like Alan Sugar (though he is far from the worst) are put up as the pinnacle of achievement to manipulate public perception just as the PofW is promoted as being supremely talented at anything she touches. .

        • 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 nothing, Russia has not done that nor has China or France or anyone other than the USA.

          • 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 ever again.
            As you say It’s not that we are bad at what we do. I think the services work minor miracles. The problem is that politicians, and I do believe of all colours, think defence is something at the bottom of de garden.

          • 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 national revenue comes from the canal, and that will now be dropping fast and far. They have the capacity to do this and from much closer than us. They have got to be giving permission to overfly, so why are we doing their dirty work and getting the international brickbats?

          • 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

        • 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. 🤔

          • 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.

      • 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 from the Military Programming Law (LPM) 2019–25 budget.

        This announcement represents the fifth procurement tranche for the Rafale placed by the French Ministry of Armed Forces since 1993. The first of these new F4-standard aircraft will be delivered from 2027.

        The French Armed Forces have made a commitment to field and modernise the Rafale through to at least 2070, with incremental upgrade packages designed to keep the aircraft at the forefront of military capabilities.”

      • 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

      • 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.

          • 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?

  2. 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. 🇬🇧

    • 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 see how long until they are thrown into a cesspit jail.

    • 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 nothing about that sadly and we do need to worry about in our own future, or the same fate will hit us sadly.

  4. 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 attack; eventually some of them will be bound to overwhelm the defences and get through

    • 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.

          • 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 might also offer to deploy QEC to alternate the local air strike capability with the US. Maybe they and other allies can help us escorts.
          Given the unfortunate state of the frigate fleet T45 availability is key. T45 is better suited because it has the capability to down the ballistic missiles. Not sure whether the T23 Artisan – CAMM system can do this. It was interesting and reassuring to learn that Diamond shot down a drone with a 30mm. Think I read somewhere there is AA optimised ammunition for this gun. If there is we should get some.
          Make sure the ships carry Wildcat with Martlet for small ship drones. Actually I believe Martlet fired from Wildcat has been demonstrated against a drone. Maybe combat air patrols with Wildcat 🙂
          I’m sure there are lots of smart people working out how to manage things,

          • 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 are there yet anything that might be of use in this scenario doing a similar job. Well highly unlikely in operation there certainly, but it would be interesting to know, even contemplate how possible and what what form, size and range such a device would have to be in the scenario we see presently. Too big it will probably be taken out as at least one US drone has, too small and lack of range and capability becomes an issue. Not even sure what sort of distance we are even talking about to be useful here, far greater than in Ukraine obviously so presently something of similar usefulness may simply not be possible, certainly without special forces involved which just seems very risky.

          • 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.

    • 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 never defeated the Houthi (a small regional force of tribesmen) after 7 years of war. Despite outnumbering them in everything. Its why the UAE (who started the war on the Saudi side) pulled out of Yemen in 2020, apparently linked to the losses it suffered during the battle for the city of Al Hudaydah because like the Saudis they can’t fight for toffee. And I’m talking from experience of having trained Saudi troops (As well as Egyptians and Syrians)

      As for the Houthi used to getting bombed, whilst much was made of the deaths at the hands of the Saudis, Saudi Arabia actually saw more strikes on cities by the Houthi than the otherway round. (over 300 Ballistic missile attacks)

      The cries of indiscriminate Saudi bombing was a huge misinformation campaign promoted by Iran designed to cut of Saudi Arabia from its mates, which explains why at the start of 2020 the official death toll after 6 years of war stood at around 14K, then within months it ballooned to the hundreds of thousands and the best part, the Saudi actually stopped airstrikes in 2017 and after that only carried them out in response to Houthi missile and drone attack’s on Saudi Arabia which between 01/01/2016 to 20/10/2021 saw 4103 attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Houthis

      for more info on the above google:
      The Iranian and Houthi War against Saudi Arabia

      • 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 American support for Ukraine

          • 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 potentially than Brexit ever was the very independent existence of Europe might be at risk. Just thankful that Ukraines relative dismantling of the Russian military may just give us long enough to prepare and get us through the Trump era if it happens and he dumps Europe.

            That wasn’t a calculation Putin expected, it was to be a quick defeat of Ukraine absorbing of Moldova and then 2 years of threats before a Trump Presidency during which with the right signals he would set out to take Finland the Baltic States and completely bend what remains of Europe to his will. The new Russian Empire recreated and then with China increasingly confront the US with even Japan on the front line having to soul search its future. One wonders what Trumps position would he be then? Is he and advisors really too stupid to visualise it. Maybe becoming the US’s new Dictator in that environment while playing matey to them might appeal to his ego, a fair swap indeed for what is US declining power anyway. Will his supporters still buy into it, or when he pretty much re establishes a Monarchal legacy to his kids aka his North Korea, after he admires Kim. Let’s hope that extreme doesn’t happen but who knows what goes on in his and his acolytes bloated heads.

          • 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 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 how ungreat the US has been rendered.

      • 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
        For an actual video of one such shootdown.

        • 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 Army engineers were pretty damn clever and had devised some ingenious ways to breach those on a large scale.
        Jordan has always done well, they are professional, motivated and do stand up and fight back (they pretty well booted the PLO out pdq).

        Then you get to the Tribes of Yemen and that is a problem, those small regional tribes managed to hasten us leaving Aden in 1967. And that despite us having 30,000 British troops, RAF air superiority and 2/3 RN Carriers.
        They now control one of the most strategic choke points on earth. Which by the way is the reason we originally took control of Aden immediately after the building of the Suez Canal.
        They are like the Afghans are a troublesome lot and not afraid of larger Powers.

        As an aside have you ever thought of expanding your critique on recruitment and submit an article to George ? Someone needs to.

        TTFN 😉

      • 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 and indeed another Arabian expert this morning said that the present crisis is a direct result of the West/World ignoring matters a decade ago when these mountain guerrillas came down to oppose the then Govt and no one saw the possibility of these minority motley tribesmen actually having any real impact.

    • 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.

        • 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.

      • 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 straights of Hormuz) or go through Suez and probably onto Taranto in Italy.

          I would imagine someone is seriously thinking and negotiating with someone about options. But if it is long term it may be an idea to rotate with a 2nd T45 and set up local support at Al Duqm (superb facilities and we have a 35 year lease).

          • 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.

  5. 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 flat lands and Sunni Islam) and they merged in 1990 and have seen nothing but internecine warfare between the two branches of Islam since.
        The lasted tranche of war commenced in 2014 when the Houthi aided by the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh (who had stood down to the Arab spring in 2012 and was allowed to leave with $60 billion as long he kept out of Yemeni politics) and they expanded out of the mountains and took the bottom 1/10th of the country below what used to be North Yemen. The Saudi jumped into the fray in 2015 and whilst they are mocked for not been able to defeat the Houthi they did push them back into their mountain strongholds where they have remained to this day, its why unable to defeat the Saudis on the battlefield they took to bombing from afar (using drones and Ballistic missiles provided by iran) as mentioned in a previous post of mine on this thread, the arrival of the F15SA and the upgrading of the Saudi Patriot missile system had a huge effect on Houthi . Who in turn decided on launching a ground attack inside Yemen to capture a major city in Feb 2021 and so began the battle for Marib,  (Have a look at map of Yeman, find Sana’a , look 80 miles east and you find the city (more a town than city) of Marib. The thing is it isn’t in the mountains but on a desert plain with only 1 main road through the mountain from Sana’a and for the next 16 months the Houthi launched wave after wave of attack on the city, problem for them is the Saudis have command of the air and troops and convoys in open ground are sitting ducks (or should that be goats) and they suffered huge losses and there is actual evidence that the Houthis were pressganging children to make up for their losses
        This , how the Saudis had started to mitigate the missile and drone threat was the reasons why the tempo slowed down in Yemen and why there was a so called peace agreement signed last year (I say so called as Muslims in the region do not sign a peace agreement, but rather a hudna which is a temporary   ceasefire until one or the other is strong enough to start again. (It’s what Hamas has been signing with Israel since 2005) and the fact that the Houthi as Shia Muslims who reside in 1/4th of the country with the rest Sunni Muslims where they have been bottled up since 2015, is why I feel this will not become Afghasntan number 2.
        Yes they have the penchant for mischief ,but the simple fact remains the main mover of the Houthi is Tehran which is in a way a vassal of China, which is currently seeing something of an economic downtown and needs people to purchase its stuff, seeing as 15% of the worlds trade traverses the Red Sea, China will not be happy at seeing the Mad mullahs playing silly buggers. Now Russia is a different story. 

        • 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 he was a Muslim (I kid you not)

            Anyway, as i said I have no time for his reports. Yemen is a huge country, as mentioned the Houthi are shia Islam tribesmen who settled in the mountainous areas of north Yemen which afforded them protection from Sunni Arabs who populate the remaining 3/4 of the country. Do a google on:
            Yemen
            Religion, Peace and Conflict Country Profile

            the top result is from United States Institute of Peace
            click on that and gravitate to the bottom of the page which reveals a map of Yemen by religion. Shia Islam is the one in dark blue. How Gardner thinks the Houthi who have been bottled up in their mountainous ancestral since 2015 rule most of the country is beyond me

        • 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.

      • 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.

          • 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 very same ships idiot Shapps is considering scrapping.

    • 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.

  6. 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?

      • 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 they are not a soft target..these are a serious enemy. It does show how much better western aircraft and air forces are at operating in high threat environments compared to Russian and other air forces across the world.

            Its not a risk free environment..Arab airforces have lost around 6 f16s to Houthi air defences over the years as well as a number of rotors and in recent years a couple of f15s have come back with holes in them.

            Iran has been supplying sayyid-2 and 3 air defence systems..as well, which is probably as good as any Russian system being used in Ukraine…so it does say something about western air power when it can carve into the Houthi in a high intensity strike without any loss or damage…as I alway say china is watching and taking notes..this was one tick in the “no to war” balance ( because it’s completely true and everything the west does needs to be considered around this fact) .

          • 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.

          • 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 unable to obtain a lock to engage it.

            There is probably a lot we don’t know.

          • 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.

  7. “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 Corridor to Syria and Lebanon
          Painted the picture that Iran was just waiting for the right time, it also explains why Israeli has been striking Iranian assets in Syria for the past few years. However I feel that Tehran wrong footed everybody by encouraging Hamas to attack on the basis that it would allow Iran to blanket Israel with missiles and drones knowing full well that Israel would go hell for leather against Hamas, which in turn has allowed it to attack Israel by demonising it on the world stage, I mean all these protests not just against Israel but against jews and anybody who they feel has sided with the jew. Impressionable people are fed a daily diet of daily deaths always of women and children never men unless of course they are grieving a lost child. It’s a well organised media circus which not once mentions the 1500 Hamas gunmen killed on the 7th of Oct or the other 1500 killed on the 8th Oct inside Israel and they can quote such figures by an actual body count, its why the death toll has fallen for the 7th as bodies they presumed were Israeli civilians have turned out to be Hamas gunmen, I read the other day that the IDF claims to have killed around 9000 Hamas gunmen inside Gaza.so we are looking at around 12K Hamas gunmen taken out, I suspect the figure will be higher simply because they haven’t got round to counting them, this from a quoted Hamas figure of 36K trained gunmen waiting for the IDF to enter gaza, problem for Hamas was Israel didn’t get that Memo and instead of striking from the north into well prepared positions (They learnt that lesson in 2006 inside Lebanon) they split the Strip in half in the middle across less built up areas and then worked their way into the middle of that northern (and now cut off from the south) leaving Hamas strong points till the last. Its why so many pictures of hundreds of men in their underwear have been tipping up from these strong point, but which Pallywood has been painting as a human rights outrage including children simply in which to galvanise. Well instead of waging a war against Israel which would have resulted in painting the Iranians and their puppets as the bad guys, by selling Hamas down the river , Iran has set the scene for its sycophants in the west (Looks at the Scottish FM) to cry foul play over a war they started. And here we are with the ICC
          Maybe that explains why Hezballah and Iran is sitting this one out,  why should they when the ethical latte drinkers subscribe to the view that all jews are evil. 

          • 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 which is a problem).

            So I suspect you are right Iran has wrong footed the west and Israel in the political warfare sphere…the Houthi are just one example of the outcome of that action, as is the actions of South Africa in the UN and the marches we see in the west.

            My worry is that this is actually evidence of influence by china, the CCP are experts at political warfare ( they have a force of 3 million people just to fight in the political warface sphere) its a key part of their strategy against the west and its something every officer in their armed forces is taught ( it’s a fundamental part of the Maoist long war strategic approach to winning)… this would all be a classic Maoist move.

        • 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.

  8. 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”.

  9. 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.

  10. 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 cost a fortune in money, future prosperity and lives.

    • 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.

  11. 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 us look weak and people would take advantage of that.

    • 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.

  12. 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 populations views would prevent permission, so for me that’s one of the key bits .our allies in the Middle East are still permissive of western military action against an Arab target.

    If there is continuing attacks after this it may be time to consider the costs ( both financial and opportunity costs around air wing development) vs benefits of sending a UK carrier battle group..I’m still on the side of wait, but if the attacks continue after this at least one western nation other than the U.S. needs to show it’s got the means and will to make more that a small contribution and a UK CBG with a squardon of 35Bs will be very meaning full and send a clear message to Tehran, Moscow, Pyongyang and Beijing, that the UK has will and means to support western interests.

    • 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 geopolitically…Israel would not have worked they would still need to overfly either Egypt or Saudi airspace if they went through Israel down the gulf or Aqaba which is Egypt on one side and Saudi on the other with not international waters air airspace between….I’m betting Egypt played ball..as you say it’s massive for them financially.

    • 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.

  14. 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 a lot of extra fuel tanks. So I’d guess they carried maybe 2 or 4 Paveway IV Guided bombs each due to the fuel load.
    That’s 4 – 8,000 lb of bombs so roughly the Max load of a WW2 Wellington Bomber but with precision targeting.

    Think about that for a second, that’s 4 pilots sitting in a small cockpit, flying further than an Atlantic crossing, carrying out multiple Air to Air Refuellings and carrying out a precision bombing mission half way through.

    By nature I am a B+ sort of bloke. But this really has me scratching my head so I do feel it necessary to point out the Bloody Obvious because someone has to.

    ”Operation Emperors New Clothes”

    This is on the limits of the humanly possible and like Black Buck isn’t sustainable, so it’s been done simply because we had to do something and have absolutely nothing else available

    In Theatre we have 1 T45 and 2 T23 which have 4.5”guns and 8 Harpoon missiles. To use those you need to get inshore and that really isn’t a good idea (see USS Cole for details).

    We have no Carriers deployed (the lack of activity in Portsmouth is surprising) and not enough ships to form an escort group even if we tried. There are no extra SSM that can be loaded on anything else and no SSN in theatre with TLAM.

    And a we have a Government that will probably announce this as a demonstration of World Leading Military Capacity, Rishi Sunaks superb leadership and then completely ignore the fact they have eliminated all other options.

    • 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 miles each way and you would need more Tankers than we have to support just a couple of planes there and back.
        Figure 16/18 hours in the air to drop 2 or 4 500lb bombs halfway through the mission.
        We are not at War and even then it would be ……….not a good idea.

  15. 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.

  16. 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?’.

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