If you don’t think the next naval war will be drone-centric, you aren’t paying attention. In fact, we are fighting one right now.
Via CENTCOM (emphasis mine):
In the early morning hours of December 16 (Sanna time) the US Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS CARNEY (DDG 64), operating in the Red Sea, successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems launched as a drone wave from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The UAS were assessed to be one-way attack drones and were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries. Regional Red Sea partners were alerted to the threat.
While not disclosed by CENTCOM, it is well known that the majority of the drones used by the Houthi are locally built (with Iranian help and Chinese/German commercial components) Samad-type, which are felt to be not very technically advanced.
Via TRADOC
However, what if that is the plan in a larger conflict? Smother destroyers and escorts with hundreds of simple yet still dangerous UAVs over the course of several days that empty the tin cans’ missile cells and magazines, then send in the tough and more advanced stuff to finish the job.
The U.S. Navy made no comment on how the swarm against Carney was splashed, whether it was one of the destroyer’s huge (and very expensive) SM-3 ABMs, smaller (but still overkill) SM-1/2 MRs that she carries, her 5″/54 MK45 mount (which has a limited anti-air capability), her 20mm CIWS (which would have meant allowing the drones to get very close) or 25mm chain guns/M2 .50 cals (which would have meant letting them get even closer).
Notably, in 2016, Carney replaced her aft Phalanx CIWS 20mm Vulcan cannon with the SeaRAM 11-cell RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launcher, which stretched the engagement envelope on that mount from 3,000m to 6~ miles.
Of course, there is also the possibility that non-kinetic, soft-kill methods were used such as the destroyer’s onboard AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite (a role called Enhanced Electronic Attack that is being optimized in the new AN/SLQ-32(V)7 SEWIP Block 3 fitment for Burkes) or backpack-deployable DRAKE counter-drone zappers that the Navy has been quietly deploying on both surface ships and submarines.
Carney did go kinetic during an earlier attack in October, hitting an undisclosed number of Houthi drones and three land-attack missiles headed toward Israel.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG-64) defeats a combination of Houthi missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in the Red Sea, Oct. 19, 2023. US Navy Photo
Carney had also shot down an Iranian KAS-04 (Samaad 3 type) drone operated from Houthi areas in late November and responded to four attacks against three merchant vessels earlier this month– adding another drone to her tally.
A little help from our friends…
The British and French are also getting into the act as well, with each one claiming a drone shot down in the same region recently.
HMS Diamond (D34) is the third of six 9,500-ton Type 45/Daring class AAW destroyers in service with the Royal Navy. She was sent to the Gulf late last month to bolster the RN’s three minesweepers and frigate HMS Lancaster. While in the Red Sea, she splashed a “one-way armed drone targeting merchant shipping” on 15 December.
The RN is citing the incident as its first surface-to-air “kill” since the 1991 Gulf War.
HMS Diamond successfully engaged and shot down an aerial system suspected to have been a one way attack drone, that appears to have originated from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. (Pictures: MOD)
This is the first use of an Aster 30 missile (named PAAMS(S) Sea Viper by the British) in combat by the Royal Navy, although the French Aquitaine-class frigate Languedoc (D653) also fired a smaller Aster 15 missile at a similar target earlier last week. Diamond carries as many as 48 Sea Vipers in her VLS cells while the smaller (6,000 ton) French frigate carries just 16 vells.
The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Ben Key KCB CBE ADC, made the following statement:
A sixth of the world’s commercial shipping passes through the Bab-al-Mandeb and Red Sea. The RN is committed to upholding the right to free use of the oceans and we do not tolerate indiscriminate threats or attacks against those going about their lawful business on the high seas.
However, shipping companies are pulling the plug and opting to go the long way ’round the Cape. So far, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, and Maersk have all announced a “pause.” This comes as shipping industry groups are warning against merchant vessels employing armed private security in the region for risk of “escalation.”