Military Watch:

Did the U.S. Army THAAD System Just Fail its First Ever Combat Test? Why Advanced Yemeni Missiles Pose New Challenges

Middle East , Missile and Space

Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff

December-29th-2024

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Surface to Air Missile Launch From THAAD System

On December 26 the U.S. Army for the first time employed a THAAD surface-to-air missile system to attempt to neutralise an airborne target. The system’s first combat test has long been anticipated, with THAAD having first entered service in 2006 with the promise of revolutionising American ground forces’ ability to intercept intermediate range ballistic missiles in the upper atmosphere. A THAAD system was deployed to Israel by the U.S. Army to support Israeli air defence capabilities in October, following multiple successful Iranian and Yemeni strikes on Israeli targets using a range of ballistic and cruise missile classes, with the depletion of Israel’s own missile defences at the time thought to have made such support from the U.S. particularly important. While the primary threat against which THAAD was deployed was the Iranian ballistic missile arsenal, its target on December 26 was a ballistic missile fired by Yemeni Ansurullah Coalition forces, with an unnamed American military source cited by local media stating that it was not confirmed whether the system hit its target. 

Ballistic Missile Launch By Yemeni Ansurullah Coalition Forces

Missile strikes from Yemen have on multiple occasions proven capable of evading Israel’s multi-layered air defence network, with a notable example being Israeli reports that multiple interceptors were fired at a missile in the early hours of September 15, but failed to stop it. This was one of multiple aspects of the Ansurullah Coalition’s military performance which far exceeded expectations, causing considerable concern both in Israel and in the Pentagon. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante in November highlighted the growing consensus to this effect, stating that its arsenal included missiles which “can do things that are just amazing.” “I’m an engineer and a physicist, and I've been around missiles my whole career. What I've seen of what the Houthis [Ansurullah] have done in the last six months is something that — I'm just shocked,” he stated. He further emphasised that the Yemeni arsenal "can do some pretty amazing things.” While it remains disputed whether the Ansuruallh Coalition’s most advanced ballistic missiles use hypersonic glide vehicles or advanced manoeuvrable reentry vehicles, either of these would pose very significant challenges to systems like THAAD, which in testing are consistently simulated to be targeting missiles with predictable trajectories and few countermeasures.