The Houthis’ attacks on Saudi Arabia are exposing the limits of the kingdom’s military capability, despite defense spending easily surpassing that of other regional neighbors.
Missiles and drones launched by the Iran-backed group from Yemen have caused destruction on Saudi soil in recent days, killing at least 18 people and forcing the closure of the kingdom’s main international airport in Riyadh. The Houthis show no signs of backing off the offensive and continued attacking several Saudi cities throughout this week.
Saudi Arabia allocated between $64 billion and $96 billion for defense this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Economics. At the upper end of the estimate, the figure is more than double Israel’s, the second-largest military budget in the Middle East.
The kingdom operates Patriot anti-missile batteries from Raytheon, equipped with the latest PAC-3 interceptors from Lockheed Martin, uses hundreds of Boeing F-15 fighters adapted for its air force, and is the only Gulf country with airborne refueling aircraft.
Nevertheless, the Houthis have been able to inflict considerable damage with far less sophisticated equipment.
One reason is the size of Saudi Arabia’s territory. The country covers more than 2.1 million square kilometers and has a huge amount of strategic assets to protect, including oil facilities, air bases, and large urban centers.
Defending against ballistic missiles is already a difficult task when there is only one main target. In a continent-sized country, the challenge is much greater. During the early phase of the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, thousands of Iranian attacks were intercepted by the region’s defense systems. But even a 90% success rate can result in significant damage when the volume of launches is high.
In addition, the Saudi Armed Forces are still undergoing modernization and remain highly dependent on the United States, especially in the area of military intelligence.
Adaptable Adversary
The Houthis’ recent attacks mix different types of armaments, making defense even more difficult. The group employs drones, low-flying, low-cost cruise missiles, and also ballistic missiles.
Supported by Iran, the movement has developed an adaptive capacity that surprises military analysts. After years of fighting in Yemen, the Houthis have accumulated combat experience and resisted successive military campaigns aimed at defeating them.
“The Houthis have benefited from some luck, but they demonstrate an impressive ability to adapt,” said Ankit Panda, a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “A determined attacker armed with missiles remains extremely difficult to neutralize.”
The group’s arsenal has evolved enough to enable the production of relatively precise drones and ballistic missiles, some of them produced with components from Chinese companies.
These weapons cost thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, far less than the air defense interceptors used to shoot them down, which can cost several millions of dollars.
This means that even when attacks are neutralized, they impose significant costs on Saudi Arabia and pressure its defense stocks.
Limitations of Defense Systems
Another problem is that Patriot batteries have directional coverage. They do not protect a full 360-degree area.
According to Becca Wasser, defense expert at Bloomberg Economics, if radars and launchers were positioned to intercept potential attacks coming from Iran, they may have had difficulty responding quickly to strikes launched by the Houthis from the south.
Although air and missile defense capabilities have evolved in recent years, the Saudi military still depends heavily on the United States for intelligence data and target designation.
“Modernization has advanced since the reforms initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but the process is slow and concentrated in specific areas, not across the entire force,” Wasser said.
Money and Weapons Are Not Enough
Despite having more than 200 F-15 fighters, nearly as many as the United States Air Force itself, Saudi Arabia has not managed to use them decisively over more than a decade of bombardments against the Houthis.
The war began in 2015 when the group took control of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. Fighting eased after a ceasefire in 2022 but has recently escalated again.
“Equipment and money do not win wars,” said Wolf-Christian Paes, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). “Training, motivation, and leadership make the difference.”
According to experts, decades of reliance on American military protection have reduced incentives for Middle Eastern countries to fully develop their own capabilities.
Saudi Arabia has not escaped this so-called “protection curse,” says David Roberts, professor of International Security at King’s College London.
Earlier attacks, such as the drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil facilities in 2019, had already demonstrated the limitations of this model.
A Threat Difficult to Neutralize
So far, Donald Trump has avoided direct military intervention in the conflict. In a post on Truth Social this week, he stated only that the Houthis are “behaving very badly,” without detailing possible actions.
Meanwhile, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman described the recent events as “grave” and said that the kingdom’s response should be equally serious.
The Houthis gained international prominence after threatening shipping in the Red Sea during the Gaza war. In response, the United States carried out more than a thousand airstrikes over three months.
Even so, destroying mobile launchers hidden in mountainous areas and eliminating subterranean production facilities proved extremely difficult.
“The Houthis clearly demonstrate the limits of what an air campaign can achieve,” said April Longley Alley, a researcher at the Washington Institute.
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also assessed that Saudi Arabia will hardly contain the threat on its own.
“There will be a coordinated effort to rein in the Houthis,” he said. “But it will not be easy. They are far more resilient than most people realize.”
Recent conflicts in Iran and Ukraine have also reinforced a growing conclusion among specialists: long-range ballistic missiles allow even relatively weaker military forces to impose high costs and cause serious problems for far more powerful adversaries.
Today the Houthis possess Quds-1 cruise missiles with an estimated range of 750 kilometers, in addition to Burkan-1, Burkan-2, and Burkan-3 ballistic missiles, capable of hitting targets up to 1,200 kilometers away, placing virtually all Saudi territory within reach of their attacks.
For many analysts, the difficulties faced by Riyadh reflect a larger problem.
“Yemen is a fortress difficult to conquer. The United States has not managed to solve this problem,” Longley Alley said. “This is an issue that cannot be solved by military instruments alone.”
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
