Yemen Monitor/Washington/Exclusive:
The Pentagon is set to spend nearly $1.2 billion to maintain ships deployed in operations in the Red Sea and replenish missile stocks used to counter attacks from Iran and its proxies, according to recently released budget documents.
The spending, detailed in two September 6 budget documents submitted to congressional defense committees and published online, helps highlight the cost of maintaining a significant presence in the region, as well as shooting down drones and missiles deployed by Iran and one of its rebel proxies, the Houthis in Yemen, as Bloomberg reported and Yemen Monitor translated.
Approximately $190 million will be spent on restocking RTX Corp. Standard Missile-3 Block 1B, which is launched from the sea, and about $8.5 million will go towards more heat-seeking AIM-X Sidewinder missiles, according to the documents.
The Pentagon said in the documents that the largest portion of the Pentagon’s expected spending from Middle East operations over the year is $300 million for the maintenance of unplanned inventories on the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan and ships with the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group that conducted operations in the Red Sea.
One of the documents says that the spending is linked to “costs incurred by the Department of Defense within the US Central Command region in responding to the situation in Israel or to hostilities in the region as a direct result of the situation in Israel.”
The Houthis have targeted more than 150 commercial ships with missiles and drones since the start of the war in Gaza in October. They seized one ship and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. Coalition forces led by the US have also intercepted other missiles and drones in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which also included Western warships.
Iran denies arming the Houthis, despite the discovery of weapons made in Tehran on the battlefield and in sea shipments bound for Yemen, in violation of a UN arms embargo.
In response, the US and UK have been conducting an air strike campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi group since January 11. As a result, the Houthis announced the expansion of their operations to include US and British ships.
