Stopping Flow of Weapons to Houthis Key to Halting Merchant Attacks, Says Fleet Forces Commander

Interdicting the flow of missiles, drones and other weapons and parts from Iran to the Yemen-based Houthis is key to keeping Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea safer for merchant shipping, Fleet Forces commander said Thursday.

Adm. Daryl Caudle, speaking at a Navy League event, said, “we just can’t cede that chokepoint” to the Iranian-backed Houthis in what had been one of the most trafficked commercial sea lanes. Since the attacks began, hundreds of merchant ships, particularly the largest container carriers, have decided to take the longer route around Africa to ensure delivery to and from Europe and Asia rather than risk attacks on the shorter route to the Suez Canal.

Caudle added soon the French and United Kingdom navies will also be operating in those waters.

The rules of engagement need to reflect that constantly changing challenge from the Houthis so the Navy is not only reacting to attacks but acting “at our time and tempo” to prevent them. “We’ve got to work through that.”

Caudle said the Houthis have attacked about 80 merchant ships in the strait since October 2023.

The attacks are continuing.

USNI News reported last week USS Stockdale (DDG-106) and USS O’Kane (DDG-77) shot down a number of Houthi weapons in the Gulf of Aden. It was the fourth time Stockdale has come under attack in this deployment.

“The two destroyers, part of the four destroyers the U.S. currently has in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, were escorting three U.S.-owned, operated and flagged merchant vessels when the Houthis launched weapons at the ship,” The Central Command post on social media site X did not name the merchant ships.

“We understand the engagements [attacks] in record time, so we can fine-tune our systems [Aegis, cyber, radar],” Caudle said. Where this process took months in the past to complete, the evaluations now are made in days. “This is not some ad-hockery” in how the Navy defends its ships and operates in contested environments.

What’s been happening in the Red Sea “is an incredible story that has been nothing short of [demonstrating] what a global well-trained navy can do,” Caudle said.

He added in answer to a question that the Navy is exploring less costly options like Coyote or Hellfire missiles, rather than firing multi-million dollar SM-3 or SM-6 missiles needed in high-end combat, to destroy incoming Houthi weapons.

From the deployment of the Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to its return to Norfolk in July, Caudle said the Navy recognized that those crews and aviators had “no kidding been in a combat zone” for seven months. He said it meant being prepared to offer a “spectrum of care” to those who were deployed and their families who recognized the stress they were under.

“We’re not in a good place” when it comes to building ships and finishing required maintenance on time,” Caudle said. The situation “has the Navy’s attention; has Congress’s attention.”

In the yards, “workflow has to be more efficient” for maintenance and modernization.

Caudle added later in the discussion looking at the service life extension programs for Flight I Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers said extending shipyard stays by four to five months to modernize wasn’t the way to keep those ships ready for deployment.

“Can I get to a place where I modernize in chunks,” he asked rhetorically. Caudle said that means something like “Aegis-in-a-box,” carry-on equipment where the ship does not have to be reconfigured to complete the work that adds months to already long maintenance schedules.

Modernization of ships past their expected 35-year service life should only be done “when it makes sense” for that vessel, he said.

On submarine maintenance against Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti’s goal of having 80 percent of the fleet ready to surge at any one time, “we have 17 submarines” in shipyards now. The number should be 10, said Caudle, but slippage on-time finishes has piled up. This means more subs are waiting for needed repairs but available for deployment and affects overall readiness by reducing the number of boats available to react in a crisis.

He added that availability to “surge” means that the crew, ship, weapons and aircraft are certified as ready for combat within 30 days, not necessarily certified in all areas.

The 80 percent model came from naval aviation under then Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ 2018 initiative. USNI News reported last month “since then the naval aviation enterprise has maintained it day-to-day,” Adm. Jim Kilby, vice CNO, said at a U.S. Naval Institute-Center for Strategic and International Studies event.

“Every Friday, I get a report from the Air Boss that says where they are for every type model series, and it’s either green or red, and if it’s red, it explains what they’re doing about it,” he added.

Caudle said during the Navy League discussion having each class with a maintenance dashboard gives those commanders a picture “so everyday you know what has to be fixed.”

Again, quoting retired CNO Adm. Michael Gilday as he with “get real,” Caudle said, “’ embrace the red’ with “a sense of urgency.”

Caudle said, “we don’t want ‘get real, get better’ to just be a slogan.

The Navy sees unmanned, autonomous systems that are attributable as “adding mass in a smart way” to the sea service’s future. “They do not take away a Navy that is going to be manned,” said Caudle.