AP Photo/Bernat Armangue
A US Navy carrier strike group that spent months battling the Houthis in the Red Sea fired $1.16 billion worth of munitions during active combat operations, a Navy spokesperson told Business Insider on Wednesday.
This previously unreported figure covers the total cost of the 770 munitions that the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group launched from October 7 to mid-July and underscores the significant financial toll for America's counter-Houthi mission.
"US Navy ships have maintained a presence in and near the Red Sea to deter threats and protect shipping since the launch of near-daily attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis in November 2023," the spokesperson said.
"In that effort, a variety of weapons have been employed by the carrier strike group, including aircraft as well as vessels operating with the strike group and independently," they added.
These weapons include surface-to-air missiles, land-attack missiles, air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface weapons.
The Eisenhower strike group — consisting of the aircraft carrier Ike, several destroyers, and a cruiser — deployed to the Middle East in the fall and spent months defending merchant shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from unrelenting Houthi missile and drone attacks.
US warships and aircraft attached to the strike group routinely intercepted Houthi missiles and drones and carried out airstrikes against the rebels in Yemen.
The Eisenhower left the region in June and was replaced by the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. The spokesperson said the cost of munitions expended does not cover the Roosevelt's deployment.
