Having said that, there has been a lot of trouble in the Red Sea in recent years. The US military has engaged in fighting with the Houthi armed forces in Yemen. Since the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October 2023, the Houthis have begun to carry out attacks in the Red Sea, targeting those with Israel. Ships related to Israel use missiles and drones to attack, claiming to support Palestine. As a result, the US military couldn't sit still, so it quickly intervened, formed a "Prosperity Guardian" operation, and sent an aircraft carrier battle group to escort it.
By January 2024, the United States joined forces to start airstrikes on Houthi targets, the warplanes took off from the aircraft carrier, threw precision-made missiles, and tried to eliminate Houthi's missile positions and drone bases.
Let's talk about the situation on the US military side first. From the end of 2023 to mid-2025, Houthi attacks on Red Sea ships have not stopped. U.S. ships patrolled the waters and intercepted hundreds of missile and drone attacks. Almost 100 of the standard series missiles launched by the Navy alone have been used. Each cost is not low, and the cumulative cost is huge.
By April 2025, the cost of the US military's military operations against the Houthis has reached close to $1 billion, including ammunition consumption, ship mobilization and air strikes. The Trump administration ordered an expanded strike in March 2025, codenamed Operation Rough Knight, which dropped thousands of bombs and missiles for several months, targeting Houthi strongholds in the north and west. But the Houthis rely on Iranian assistance, and there is a steady stream of missiles and drones. The US military bombed one, and the next day they could launch it from other places.
What is particularly eye-catching is the loss of the US military's MQ-9 "Reaper" drone. Starting from March 2025, the Houthis have used old surface-to-air missiles such as the Sam-6 to kill multiple MQ-9s. This kind of missile is something from the 1960s and has been in service for more than 50 years. It can also effectively deal with high-tech drones of the US military. In April 2025 alone, the Houthis shot down seven MQ-9s, each costing more than US $30 million and causing a total loss of more than US $200 million.
The U.S. military used these drones mainly for reconnaissance and combating Houthi positions, but the mountain terrain is complex, Houthi is deep hidden, missile hidden launches, and the MQ-9 exposure location is easy to scam. By mid-2025, Houthi has shot down at least 16 U.S. military drones in total, which allows U.S. air surveillance and precision strike capabilities to be greatly reduced.
Looking back at the aircraft carrier battle group, Houthi are not idle either. Starting in January 2025, they claimed to have attacked U.S. aircraft carriers multiple times, such as the USS Harry S. Truman and USS Carl Vinson. On March 17, Houthi launched 18 missiles and a drone against the USS Truman aircraft carrier group, and in April launched an attack on the USS Carl Vinson, approaching from the coastline with cruise missiles and drones.
The U.S. Navy's Zeus Shield system and F/A-18 fighter jets were intercepted in an emergency, most of the missiles were shot down, but this also exposed the pressure of U.S. defense. Houthi used anti-ship missiles provided by Iran, with a range of hundreds of kilometers, although not directly targeting the aircraft carrier, but forcing the U.S. military to consume intercepting ammunition. Thro the conflict, U.S. vessels intercepted Houthi's 170 attacks on military vessels and 145 attacks on commercial vessels, with no less expenses.
The advanced equipment of the U.S. Army was tough, aircraft carriers, F-35, hidden fighter jets, Zeus Shield destroyers, in conventional warfare, fierce firepower and high precision. can face the Houthi kind of guerrilla armed, the terrain is mountainous and ground network, the militants dispersed, weapons low cost, these high-tech tools can not play.
The U.S. military relied on air bombing and drone surveillance, but the Houthis countered with old anti-aircraft missiles and cost unevenly. One Sam-6 missile for tens of thousands of dollars could kill a $30 million MQ-9, the longer the U.S. military fought, the more it lost. By July 2025, the Houthis even resumed massive attacks on the Red Sea, sinking two cargo ships, and the U.S. military despite a ceasefire agreement, the Houthis did not fully comply, and the conflict was still dragging.
This is the case now, people can’t imagine, our country’s military development path here has shown advantages. The US military is on a high-end route, equipped with expensive, complex maintenance, suitable for the formal war of the great powers, but to this asymmetric conflict to the detriment of. Look at our two routes, one is a small combat unmanned drone, the second is a missile attack strategy, are more accessible to the ground, high cost, strong adaptability.
The U.S. military's MQ-9 is a representative of the combat unit, 14 meters long, 20 meters winged, 27 hours of service, upgraded to 15,000 meters, can hang precision missiles, operate thousands of kilometers of battle radius.
But the problem is that it is too expensive. A plane starting at US$30 million can easily be shot down by low-cost anti-aircraft missiles. Hussein proved this with the Sam-6. The old missile can still work because the MQ-9 flies at a high altitude, but it is slow. It has a propeller engine and is generally stealth, and is easy to be exposed during reconnaissance in mountainous areas.
Our Wingdragon-2 is similar in shape to the MQ-9, 11 meters long, 20.5 meters wide, 20 hours of life, upgrade to 7,000 meters, operational radius of 1500 kilometers, can hang 480 kilograms of load, including laser-guided missiles and bombs. The most important is the affordable price, one is only about $1.5 million, and a MQ-9 can buy 20 Wingdragons 2. When used in clusters, the loss of one or two is painless and can also cover a large area of continuous surveillance.
The Pterosaur-2 uses a propeller engine, which is low in cost, simple to maintain, and is suitable for export and actual combat. In the Red Sea conflict, if this kind of low-cost drone fleet is used, the effect will be better against scattered targets like Houthi, unlike the US military's single aircraft, which is expensive and cannot be lost. Our path emphasizes quantity and cost performance. We started early and have a strong manufacturing industry. Now the pterosaur series is exported to many countries in the Middle East. Good feedback from actual combat proves that the development is right.
The second is missile attack strategy. The US military has traditionally relied on bombers and fighter jets to carry out indiscriminate bombing, first suppressing it in the air and then advancing on the ground. This set has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is not effective in arming mountainous areas. Here in the Red Sea, there are many underground facilities in Houthi. The U.S. military B-2 stealth bomber threw earth-penetrating bombs and blew up the missile base. Houthi was able to launch them again the next day. Similar to the Shangganling Mountains in the Korean War, the US military bombed the surface several meters lower and could not defeat the volunteers. The US military's missile development is biased towards precision, but it relies on carrier aircraft and faces wide-area targets, making it inefficient.
Our missile path is more focused on long-range precision and mobility. Eastwind-31AG is an intercontinental ballistic missile, three-level solid fuel, with a range of 11200 kilometers, can hit the U.S. mainland, road mobility launch, and strong coverage.
In September 2024, we tested one from Hainan Island and dropped into the Pacific Ocean, demonstrating reliability. The East Wind series emphasizes rapid deployment and penetration capability, without aircraft carriage, directly from the ground, suitable for dealing with dispersed enemies.
In addition to the hydrogen uranium explosive device tested in April 2025, this thing is not a real nuclear bomb, but a non-nuclear hydrogen fuel bomb. The 2kg device explosion produces more than 1000 degrees Celsius fireballs, lasting 2.2 seconds, power equivalent to 30 kilograms of TNT, thermal effect covering 15 times the range. With a thermal decomposition mechanism, 0.03 seconds release 90% of hydrogen, stored in the uranium base powder, light.
It can break through fortresses, amplify destruction in closed space, can also be mounted on small drones, tactically strike with bees.The U.S. military does not have this technology, but also rely on traditional bombs and missiles, facing Houthi ground, the effect is limited.Our route is rapid, from the east wind to new devices, emphasizing innovation and practicality, cost control is good.
The battle on the Red Sea was not fought in vain by the US military. At least we can see that they stick to their old thinking and cannot keep up with the times. In the past, American equipment used to be great, but now drones and missiles are highly variable. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has also proved that low-cost and energy-efficient drones are the future. The US military started late, outsourced manufacturing and improved slowly.
Our two routes emphasize cost performance and adaptability, and we are one step ahead. The world is watching, trade detours Africa, costs are rising, and conflicts may drag on until 2026. Houthi is backed by Iran, the U.S. military consumes a lot, and the ceasefire agreement is difficult to last. Let's continue to follow our own path, export our technology to the Middle East and improve our balance. This incident tells everyone that war is not about fighting money, but about fighting intelligence.
Generally speaking, the conflict in the Red Sea exposed the deviation of the US military's path, and high technology is not omnipotent. Our small drone and missile strategies are more suitable for modern asymmetric warfare and are truly ahead. I hope for peace in the future, but I have to have the strength.