3 ms·

> Advocating for guns over missiles seemed to go against every expectation I have for future naval combat, too. Current naval combat involves using missiles wo

> Advocating for guns over missiles seemed to go against every expectation I have for future naval combat, too. Current naval combat involves using missiles worth millions of dollars in order to take down cheap Houthis' drones worth tens of thousands of dollars at most [1]. Replace those missiles with much cheaper artillery and pound the Houthis bases located on shore from 30-40 miles out and you're back to being cost-effective again. Because the US Navy, or any navy for that matter, won't be able to play that game of very expensive missiles vs. cheap drones (or cheap Houthi "missiles") for too long. [1] https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/19/missile-drone-pentagon-houthi-attacks-iran-00132480 https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/19/missile-drone-penta...

ceejayoz 3y ago
Those drones can be launched from substantially more than 30-40 miles from the shore. You might use gunnery to take out individual drones coming to attack you or the ships you’re escorting, but you are not likely to manage to hit the launchers/bases.
- paganel 3y ago
  > Those drones can be launched from substantially more than 30-40 miles from the shore. Yeah, you're correct on that, I was probably going by the good old tactic of "bomb everything that adversarially moves on the shorelines from a relative safe distance out in the sea", which tactic was active (among many competing others) sometime at the end of the 19th century - early 20th century (Douhet partially took cues from that naval tactic when writing about his mass aerial bombardments strategy). But as some other poster mentions in a related comment, there are no definitive Houthi bases, so that leaves one with the question: What exactly to bomb? What exactly needs neutralising? The same questions would be as valid and as difficult to answer were carrier-based airplanes to be available in the vicinity.

ceejayoz 3y ago

Those drones can be launched from substantially more than 30-40 miles from the shore. You might use gunnery to take out individual drones coming to attack you or the ships you’re escorting, but you are not likely to manage to hit the launchers/bases.

paganel 3y ago
> Those drones can be launched from substantially more than 30-40 miles from the shore. Yeah, you're correct on that, I was probably going by the good old tactic of "bomb everything that adversarially moves on the shorelines from a relative safe distance out in the sea", which tactic was active (among many competing others) sometime at the end of the 19th century - early 20th century (Douhet partially took cues from that naval tactic when writing about his mass aerial bombardments strategy). But as some other poster mentions in a related comment, there are no definitive Houthi bases, so that leaves one with the question: What exactly to bomb? What exactly needs neutralising? The same questions would be as valid and as difficult to answer were carrier-based airplanes to be available in the vicinity.