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.