YNNews | Reports |
A report by the Canadian Institute of Global Affairs sheds light on what it describes as the “Western Crisis” in the war against Yemen led by the United States in the Red Sea, “against which it is being confronted with cheap weapons produced by Yemeni forces, posing a very serious threat to Western warships and their missile defense systems.”
The report states that “the low cost of Yemeni offensive weapons and the high cost of American and Western naval defense systems reveal the magnitude of concerns about the potential rapid depletion of onboard ship missile defense stockpiles in any future major conflict.”
It considers that “the shortage of Western naval defense missile stocks will lead to the Western naval forces being unable to continue their military missions as they may become incapable of fully protecting themselves at any moment.”
The report also views the war led by the United States, with the participation of several Western countries, against Yemen as having “created concerns about the air defense capabilities of Western powers, which have been rapidly depleted, thereby leaving traditional warships fully exposed to cheap ballistic and cruise missiles and drones.”
The Canadian Institute of Global Affairs highlights that “the American alliance faces a dilemma in countering attacks from Yemen due to the high costs of the naval defense systems belonging to the American alliance, which are heavily used to counter a range of inexpensive drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.”
The report states: “Despite their low cost, Yemeni armament systems such as drones, unmanned boats, unmanned submarines, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles pose a real threat to warships and their air defense capabilities, which the West still relies on until this day since the Cold War era.”
The report reveals the “success of the Yemenis in persistently targeting navigation units, hitting ships, and sinking them, as was the case with the British ship Rubimar, which prompted Canada to learn lessons from the Red Sea, especially regarding naval air defense.”
It points out “concerns that China and Russia may benefit from the Yemeni naval experience in confronting the American alliance, which has failed to restore maritime navigation in the Red Sea and eliminate Yemeni threats.” The Canadian Institute indicates that “the actions displayed by the Yemeni naval forces foreshadow a strategic shift in naval warfare.”
It considers that “the most dangerous aspect is that China and Russia, with their technological and technical advancements, may exploit the Yemeni experience, while Canada and the West continue to rely on expensive traditional naval weapon systems, necessitating the production of alternative defense systems that keep pace with the cheap offensive systems used by the Houthis, such as energy-directed or electromagnetic defense systems.”
The Canadian Institute of Global Affairs pointed out that Yemen has achieved significant success in disrupting Israeli, American, and British navigation, with many commercial ships choosing longer and more expensive routes around the African continent instead of risking travel through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
The report discusses how Yemeni drones have the potential to pose one of the biggest threats to American naval air defenses, along with their medium and short-range ballistic missiles.
The report states that while medium and short-range ballistic missiles have received the most attention so far, the war in the Red Sea has clearly revealed that locally manufactured low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) present another major challenge to traditional naval air defense systems.
The Canadian Institute also revealed in its report that the Western intervention in Yemen (to protect Israel) has only brought negative results for the United States and its naval reputation, particularly in terms of naval air defense. The report confirms that the attacks launched by the forces of the Sanaa government against American warships “have raised significant concerns about the capabilities of Western naval air defenses, as they are considered ineffective due to the Yemeni navy’s ability to deplete the missile defense stockpiles of Western warships in a single large-scale attack.”
The report concludes by pointing out that “the operations carried out by the American navy against Yemen have forced the Yemeni navy to redirect its missile and drone strikes towards American naval vessels, and the results of these confrontations have begun to raise concerns about the naval air defense capabilities of Western countries, especially the United States.”
