Pentagon’s Yemen Operations Nearing $1 Billion Price Tag

Fresh analysis in both the NY Times and CNN have estimated that America’s Yemen operations will soon hit the $1 billion mark. Still, war-planners are admitting only ‘limited success’ in degrading and dismantling the Houthis sophisticated weapons network.

‘Operation Rough Rider’ has seen warplanes and warships in the Red Sea go through at least $200 million in launched munitions alone since March 15, the Times report says. An in total, CNN says the overall operation is “nearing $1 billion in just under three weeks, even as the attacks have had limited impact on destroying the terror group’s capabilities,” according to several US defense officials.

US military assets in the region have utilized JASSM long-range cruise missiles, JSOWs (GPS-guided glide bombs), and Tomahawk missiles – all of which are very costly, advanced munitions.

Pricey air operations are also being run out of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean:

US defense officials announced earlier this week that B-2 bombers out of Diego Garcia — a British-administered atoll — are also being used against the Yemeni military, and an additional aircraft carrier as well as several fighter squadrons and air defense systems will soon be moved into the Central Command region.

“They’ve taken out some sites, but that hasn’t affected the Houthis’ ability to continue shooting at ships in the Red Sea or shooting down US drones,” said one of the sources, referring to Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement.

“Meanwhile, we are burning through readiness—munitions, fuel, deployment time.”

American taxpayers, who are ultimately the ones footing the bill, are unable to have a say in any of this given the Trump-ordered military action has not been brought before Congress.

Washington has actually been bombing Yemen off-and-on for years, spanning back to the Obama administration, without so much as a single vote in Congress. Past efforts by Libertarian-leaning Republicans to reign in the Executive’s war powers have failed.

However, CNN notes that as Pentagon resources become more and more strained, also amid the Ukraine war, this could force Congress to take up the question of funding down the line:

One of the sources said the Pentagon will likely need to request supplemental funding from Congress to continue the operation, but may not receive it — the offensive has already been criticized on both sides of the aisle, and even Vice President JD Vance said he thought the operation was “a mistake” in a Signal chat published by The Atlantic last week.

Hey @DOGE I found some waste for you, a whole war you could cut https://t.co/QwV3dL8wTu

— Dave DeCamp (@DecampDave) April 4, 2025

Some analysts have pointed out that the major anti-Houthi operations actually mainly benefit Israel, while others have said that Europe should shoulder more of the burden in protecting Red Sea shipping lanes, however the consensus is that European navies are relatively weak, and don’t have advanced enough technology to properly defend against Houthi missiles and drones.

There are also fears this could turn into another US quagmire in the Middle East with little to show for in terms of strategic gains or positive results. The White House is characterizing this as a blow to Iran, given the Houthis have long been Tehran’s proxies, but it’s also clear the Yemeni group acts independently.