A US Navy carrier strike group and a few other warships that spent months battling the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in and around the Red Sea fired $1.16 billion worth of munitions during active combat operations, a Navy spokesperson told Business Insider on Wednesday.
This previously unreported figure covers the total cost of the 770 munitions that the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group launched from October 7 to mid-July and underscores the significant financial toll of America’s ongoing counter-Houthi mission.
“US Navy ships have maintained a presence in and near the Red Sea to deter threats and protect shipping since the launch of near-daily attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis in November 2023,” the spokesperson said.
“In that effort, a variety of weapons have been employed by the carrier strike group, including aircraft as well as vessels operating with the strike group and independently,” they added.
These weapons include surface-to-air missiles, land-attack missiles, air-to-air missiles, and air-to-surface weapons.
The Eisenhower carrier strike group — consisting of the aircraft carrier Ike, several destroyers, and a cruiser — deployed to the Middle East last fall and spent months defending shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from relentless Houthi missile and drone attacks.
US warships and aircraft attached to the carrier strike group routinely intercepted Houthi missiles and drones and carried out airstrikes against the rebels in Yemen.
The Eisenhower left the region in June and was replaced by the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. The spokesperson said the cost of munitions expended by American warships between October and July does not cover the Roosevelt’s ongoing deployment.
In April, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro shared that US naval forces had already fired nearly $1 billion in munitions to counter threats from Iran and its proxy forces over the previous six months.
The new figure means the Navy fired some $160 million worth of munitions between mid-April and mid-July.
The tempo of Houthi attacks has somewhat slowed, but the rebels remain an active threat to merchant vessels. Last week, for instance, they struck an oil tanker in the Red Sea, forcing a French warship to evacuate its crew.
Last week also marked the most recent US military action against the Houthis. American forces destroyed a rebel missile system in Yemen.
