US Military ‘Amazed, Shocked’ by Sophistication of Houthi Weapons Tech

The Defense Department doesn’t quite know how to evaluate the Houthis’ weapons capabilities, with Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante saying the militia are “getting scary” in terms of their technical sophistication.

“I’m an engineer and a physicist, and I’ve been around missiles my whole career,” LaPlante, whose department is responsible for purchasing weapons for the US military, said at a defense forum in Washington this week.

“What I’ve seen of what the Houthis have done in the last six months is something that – I’m just shocked,” the official said, emphasizing that the militia has churned out missiles which “can do things that are just amazing.”

US Navy assets deployed to the Red Sea last year after the escalation of the Gaza War into a regional security crisis have been able to witness firsthand the “amazing” things Houthi weapons are capable of, with the militia reportedly coming within 200 meters of striking a US supercarrier in June, and overcoming all but the final line of defense of an American missile destroyer in January.