Aircraft equipped with laser-guided rocket systems accounted for nearly 40 percent of the U.S. military’s drone kills during a months-long campaign against Iran-backed Houthi forces in and around the Red Sea, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Gen. Erik Kurilla told lawmakers on Tuesday.
Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee, Kurilla offered new insight into ‘Operation Rough Rider,’ a U.S.-led effort initiated under President Donald Trump and aimed at suppressing Houthi attacks on commercial and military vessels in a critical maritime corridor.
“About 40 percent of the drones shot down were shot down by something called Advanced Precision Weapon Kill System (APKWS), a laser-guided 2.75-inch rocket fired off our F-16s or F-15s,” Kurilla said. “That’s a $25,000 munition going against a roughly $50,000 or $100,000 drone – that is an Iranian-provided drone.”
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Operation Rough Rider
Launched early in President Donald Trump’s second term, Operation Rough Rider aimed to disrupt drone and missile attacks launched by Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen. The Houthis had been targeting international shipping lanes near the Red Sea since 2023, citing U.S. support for Israel as the motive. The attacks disrupted one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes and escalated into a broader regional security challenge.
Kurilla described Operation Rough Rider as a focused campaign to deter those strikes:
“The president gave us a very specific mission, which was to get the Houthis to quit shooting at American ships,” he told lawmakers. “Six months ago on 12 November 2024, was the last time a destroyer went through the Bab-el-Mandeb. It was attacked 17 times with anti-ship ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and UAVs. In the last week, we put four destroyers back through the Bab-el-Mandeb.”
While Operation Rough Rider officially ended in early May following a U.S.-Houthi agreement brokered in part by Oman, CENTCOM’s operations in the region continue. The U.S. is still using the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to defend Israel against ongoing attacks, including from Houthi-launched drones and missiles.
Lawmakers at the hearing highlighted the campaign’s cost – an estimated $1 billion – and noted the loss of several high-value U.S. drones and aircraft.
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Counter-UAS priorities
Despite the expense, Kurilla said the operation highlighted the need for more advanced and cost-effective counter-UAS tools.
“We absolutely need to be putting more work into directed energy [and] high-powered microwaves,” he said, pointing to technologies that could neutralize drones at a lower cost than traditional munitions.
Kurilla also emphasized the need for better detection tools, particularly to track drones with small radar signatures, recommending enhanced use of airborne Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR).
The CENTCOM chief framed software and electronic warfare capabilities as key enablers in modern air defense:
“Software is a weapon,” he said. “We are making changes to the Navy’s software on the SPY radars based on what we’re seeing.”
Kurilla noted that software-driven advances in Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) were already reshaping how CENTCOM conducts operations:
“We have engineers every day making improvements on our ability to do that,” he said. “It’s a warfighting headquarters.”
Kurilla’s repeated emphasis on counter-drone systems came in response to lawmakers pressing him on where Congress should prioritize funding.
“We’re only going to see the systems get smaller, more lethal,” he said. “That’s why Ukraine and Russia went to fiber optics, going out to 40 kilometers with fiber optic drones, you can’t jam that. So those are the things I would ask for right now.”
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Colonel Nathaniel Huston of U.S. Central Command will speak at the upcoming Counter UAS Middle East and Africa conference alongside a representative from the Jordanian Armed Forces. Col. Huston will share CENTCOM’s perspective on protecting U.S. and allied forces from UAS threats in the region.
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