Yemen's Ansarullah Coalition Forces Capture U.S. Navy Underwater Drone; Could Iran or North Korea be Involved?

The United States has been heavily involved in the war in Yemen since it began in March 2015. Alongside other Western powers the U.S. has provided extensive support to Saudi and Emirati forces waging war in the country, carrying out drone strikes and providing intelligence, equipment and even personnel. The U.S. Navy has long conducted supporting operations near Yemeni coasts. Opposing this Western-Arab alliance are the Ansarullah coalition forces, the fighting forces of which primarily include the Houthi militia. Ansarullah also incorporate members of the Yemeni Republican Guard and Communist elements from former South Yemen, and have continued to successfully make use of the country's mountainous terrain to wage an asymmetric war against the Saudi-Western alliance. These forces have allegedly received assistance and support from the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, as well as from Iran and North Korea - the latter being a longstanding military partner of Yemen which provided critical assistance in developing and modernising its SCUD missile arsenal.

The U.S. Navy reported that in early 2018 one of its underwater drones, a Remus Model 600, went missing. Reports later emerged of its capture by Houthi forces. The drone is designed to operate autonomously, and is programmed for a mission before its release. The mission can be changed through an acoustic link from a nearby ship or submarine. The Remus can connect to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and transmit its coordinates from the water's surface, and is one of the most sophisticated underwater military drones in service.

The Houthis capture of the Remus indicates that they were expecting some form of seaborne military operations and were ready to interdict such U.S. underwater surveillance systems. The Remus was designed specifically to evade capture, meaning the Houthis either had sensors planted at sea capable of detecting the drone or they had intelligence on its whereabouts. Considering the Iranian and North Korean support the Houthis receive, it is possible that electronic warfare measures were used to steer the drone to shore - as both countries have demonstrated sophisticated capabilities allowing them to hijack and land advanced hostile drones which they have gone on to study. Iran's interception of the RQ-170 stealth drone was perhaps the most prolific example of this. Just as the RQ-170 was extensively studied and used by Iran to create clone systems - which were allegedly lighter and more sophisticated, so too could the Remus Model 600 find itself transferred to Iran or North Korea for study and potential cloning. With both states facing a significant hostile U.S. Naval presence near their shores, and with both investing in advancing their military drone programs themselves, such technology could well prove an invaluable asset.