The United States Marine Corps Association (MCA) acknowledged that Yemeni forces have delivered “unexpected operational lessons,” demonstrating an ability to challenge the US Navy and impose billions of dollars in costs—despite lacking a conventional navy or air force.
In its latest assessment, the association said Yemeni operations consistently drew American naval and air power into what it described as a “secondary theater,” using only low-cost tools while achieving outsized strategic effects. This, it noted, offers the US military “a unique opportunity for doctrinal reflection.”
According to the MCA, the takeaway for the Marine Corps is not admiration, but adaptation: Yemeni methods show how smaller actors can generate large-scale effects through asymmetry, survivability, and rapid adaptation—principles the US Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) should absorb in preparing for future conflicts.
The report emphasized that US forces must study how Yemenis operate effectively inside contested environments with minimal resources, achieving strategic outcomes using ultra-low-cost systems. It highlighted the economic imbalance Yemen exploits: intercepting a $10,000 drone often requires a US missile costing up to $4 million.
The association noted that Yemen employs drone swarms to overwhelm defenses before launching primary strikes, proving the effectiveness of low-cost tools in attacks on ships. The objective is not always to sink vessels, it said, but to force the United States into an unsustainable defensive posture.
It added that the Marine Corps must integrate decoys, unmanned systems, and loitering munitions to create uncertainty and bypass enemy defenses—mirroring Yemeni tactics. Yemeni survivability, it said, relies on simplicity, mobility, and rapid concealment after launch, another key lesson for US forces.
The MCA also conceded that the United States has repeatedly failed to locate or eliminate Yemeni launch platforms despite advanced ISR capabilities. The diverse Yemeni threat portfolio has forced American destroyers to expend precision munitions at enormous cost, raising concern within US military circles about Yemen’s ability to produce strategic effects without any significant air, naval, or space capabilities.
Yemeni operations, it continued, have compelled US aircraft carriers and NATO allies to reposition forces in the Red Sea. The Yemenis, it said, have demonstrated that operational innovation “does not require massive resources, but a flexible, unconventional mindset,” proving that numbers and diversity can outweigh quality alone.
The association stressed that Yemeni forces “practically embody” the Marine Corps’ long-standing slogan of achieving “more with less.” It warned that current US success relies heavily on technological and economic superiority—not on superior innovation.
“We never imagined we would adopt tactics from Yemeni groups,” the MCA concluded. “Yet today, those lessons are working—and the question is whether we have the humility to learn.”
The assessment by the US Marine Corps Association comes amid ongoing confrontations in the Red Sea, where Yemeni Armed Forces have targeted vessels linked to the Israeli enemy and the United States in response to aggression on Gaza. These operations, which rely heavily on drones, missiles, and naval projectiles, have disrupted commercial shipping and forced Western navies to commit substantial resources to defensive missions.
