U.S. Strikes Houthi Weapons Depots in Yemen
After a brief lull in operations—or perhaps more accurately a brief lull in Western media coverage—the U.S military’s kinetic campaign against the Houthi terrorist group in Yemen is ratcheting back up in intensity.
The Basics
The latest comes to us courtesy of Fox News correspondent Caitlin McFall in a January 8, 2025 article titled “US strikes underground Houthi weapons depots used to hit American ships.” To wit:
“’U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted multiple precision strikes against two Iranian-backed Houthi underground Advanced Conventional Weapon (ACW) storage facilities within Houthi-controlled territories of Yemen,’ CENTCOM said in a statement…The military command confirmed there were no injuries to U.S. personnel and no U.S. equipment was damaged in the strike. It did not confirm whether any Houthi terrorists were killed or injured in the attack…”The strikes are part of CENTCOM’s effort to degrade Iranian-backed Houthi attempts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region,” CENTCOM added…The U.S. military did not confirm where in Yemen the strikes were carried out, though local outlet Al-Masirah TV, which is owned and funded by the Houthis, reportedly claimed that five ‘raids’ were carried out in the northwestern Amran province and two in the Sanaa province, where the capital city of Sanaa is located, reported Voice of America [VOA].”
Aircraft & Ordnance Used
The CENTCOM report also didn’t specify which aircraft and ordnance type(s) were used to carry out the strikes. Potential candidates on the U.S Air Force side of the ledger would include Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles—a relatively fresh new batch of which arrived in-theatre from RAF Lakenheath (UK) two months ago—or possibly Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons operating out of Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Potential U.S. Navy and Marine Corps warbirds for the raids would include the F-35C Lightning II—Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 was indeed the first entity to use the “C” version of the Lightning II in combat, doing so back in November 2024—and the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet.
As for specific ordnance types, chances are that either GBU-31/GBU-38/GBU-58 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) or AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOWs) were used. Given the “underground” nature of the targets struck, it’s also conceivable, though less likely, that the Enhanced GBU-28 (Guided Bomb Unit-28) was used; this is a 4,000-pound (1,800 kg) class laser-guided “bunker busting” bomb that had been designed, manufactured, and deployed in less than three weeks due to an time-sensitive need during the 1991 Persian Gulf War (AKA Operation Desert Storm) to penetrate then-Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein’s hardened command & control centers located deep underground. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” as the saying goes.
The Way Forward?
Time will tell how severely these latest strikes degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack both naval and commercial shipping alike in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden—not to mention the terrorist group’s attacks on Israel.
The January 8th CENTCOM strikes appear to be part of a broader effort on the part of the outgoing Biden Administration to get in some final parting shots, both literally and figuratively, against the Houthi rebels. According to Ms. McFall, at least three strikes were carried out in December against Houthi C2 facilities and weapons production and storage depots. In addition, American forces successfully countered at least two separate attempted strikes by the terror group on naval and merchant ships during that same month.
Christian D. Orr is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
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