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Houthis up their kamikaze drone boat campaign

The Houthis are preparing to deploy more drone boats packed with explosives in their ongoing campaign against merchant shipping in support of Hamas’s war with Israel. 

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported an incident where the bulk carrier Summer Lady was approached yesterday morning by 12 small craft in the southern end of the Red Sea. The master of the vessel reported these craft as a mix between fast craft and smaller kayak-type vessels with some appearing to be uncrewed. 

The Houthis today released a video purportedly showing the attack by a drone boat on the Transworld Navigator (pictured), a bulk carrier that suffered damage on June 23 when it was struck by explosives with videos also taken from the bulk carrier’s bridge showing an inbound unmanned surface vessel (USV) prior to a large explosion. 

The Houthis have switched over the past three weeks to using kamikaze drone boats in attacks, which have proven more effective than their flying drones and ballistic missiles. A Greek-owned and operated bulk carrier, Tutor, sank last month having been hit by a USV with the loss of one seafarer’s life. Other ships have sustained damage from USVs in recent weeks. 

Adding to the growing panic for seafarers transiting the Middle East, the Houthis claimed last week to have launched a homemade long-range hypersonic missile called the Hadim-2. This solid-fuel missile was reportedly used to target a Liberian-flagged ship, the MSC Sarah V, in the Arabian Sea.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

  1. Bidens admin isn’t that stupid.. Russia would love to learn our technology and would.pay big money for it too!

    1. That’s a lot of profits for tha arms industry and where are all the snipers coming from? A high pressure hose would do.

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