Unbelievable Figures: How Much Has the U.S. Spent Fighting Sanaa’s Drones?
NYN | Reports and Analyses
The “Costs of War” project at the Watson Institute, Brown University, revealed the scale of U.S. military spending on operations against Yemen from October 2024 to September 2025. The total costs exceeded $4.9 billion, adding to nearly $5 billion spent by Washington in the previous fiscal year, bringing the overall expenditure to nearly $10 billion.
According to the report, the largest item in the U.S. Department of Defense budget for 2025 was directly linked to military operations against the Houthis (Ansar Allah), referring to the forces in Sanaa, whether through targeting them or efforts to protect international navigation.
The U.S. employed a wide arsenal of advanced weapons in these operations, including 2,000-pound bombs, precision missiles, Patriot air defense systems, along with deploying the aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson and USS Harry S. Truman, fighter jets, bombers, and drones.
The report highlighted the cost imbalance of these operations: the U.S. used missiles worth about $2 million each to intercept drones valued at no more than $2,000.
Transporting Patriot air defense systems by air involved 73 flights of C-17 military cargo planes, costing tens of millions of dollars, in addition to aircraft carrier operational costs that ran into billions over just a few months.
The report also noted that the U.S. lost three F/A-18 fighter jets during these operations, with a total cost of $210 million.
Dozens of bombs and missiles were used, including 75 Tomahawk missiles and 20 AGM-150 bombs, with total costs exceeding hundreds of millions.
Despite this massive expenditure, the on-ground results were inconclusive. After a temporary ceasefire was declared, the Houthis (Sanaa forces) resumed attacks in July 2025, sinking two Greek ships and threatening to target commercial vessels linked to Israel.
In May, just two days before the ceasefire, the Houthis (Ansar Allah) launched an attack on Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, injuring four people and disrupting flights.
The report also indicated that these operations drained a significant portion of the operational capacity of U.S. aircraft carriers, with the Central Command area accounting for 41% of carrier operating days in 2025, compared to only 8% the previous year.
Beyond direct costs, unaccounted losses included 24 MQ-9 drones lost at an estimated total cost of around $800 million, in addition to the costly defensive munitions expended during the campaign.
The report concluded by questioning the effectiveness of these operations in terms of cost versus results, especially regarding the “Rough Rider” operation, which lasted weeks without achieving the U.S. objective of significantly weakening the Houthis’ (Ansar Allah) capabilities.
It called for a reassessment of U.S. military strategy, emphasizing investment in directed-energy technologies and low-cost drones to more effectively counter asymmetrical threats.
