US fighter jets used laser-guided rockets to destroy nearly half the drones that were shot down during the most recent big operation against the Iran-backed Houthis, a top commander told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Gen. Michael Kurilla, who oversees Middle East operations at US Central Command, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing that Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rockets fired by American F-16s or F-15s were responsible for about 40% of Houthi drone kills during Operation Rough Rider, the military’s seven-week bombing campaign against the rebels.
Kurilla was responding to questions about the implications of using expensive aircraft and munitions to fight non-state actors like the Houthis and whether the proliferation of hostile drones had led to more interest in cheaper defenses.
“We absolutely need to be putting more work into directed energy — high-powered microwave,” Kurilla said. He described the heavy use of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System as one of the “innovations” to emerge from Operation Rough Rider.
“That’s a $25,000 munition going against a roughly $50,000 or $100,000 drone — that is, an Iranian-provided drone to the Houthis,” he added.
The AGR-Falco Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS, is an unguided Hydra 70 2.75-inch rocket fitted with laser guidance kits that turn it into a precision weapon. Made by British aerospace company BAE Systems, the slim munition can fly with a 10-pound warhead at speeds of 1,000 meters per second.
One APKWS rocket is a fraction of the cost of an air-to-air missile that could otherwise be used to take down a drone. US officials have said an AIM-9, for instance, costs around $500,000; the newer AIM-120 is around $1 million.
Military leaders like Kurilla have stressed the importance of bringing the cost of air defense to parity with the price tag of the threat, though this is not always possible. US warships operating in and around the Red Sea have been forced to fire expensive surface-to-air missiles to intercept incoming Houthi missiles and drones.
SM-2 interceptors, which are on the lower end of the Navy’s missile defense capabilities, can still cost upward of $2 million. Others are much more expensive, and the Red Sea fight has seen a high tempo of operations, raising concerns about future stockpiles.
Kurilla said during written testimony that US air and naval forces in the Middle East have destroyed “hundreds” of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis into international shipping lanes and at Israel since October 2023.
The Trump administration reached a cease-fire with the Houthis in early May, ending Operation Rough Rider. During the campaign, the US military bombed over 1,000 targets in Yemen. However, the rebels continue to fire missiles at Israel, which has retaliated with several rounds of airstrikes.
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