The Middle East and the Global Arms Race: How Iranian Technology Made Houthi Missiles Harder for Israel To Intercept
Using upgraded systems based on Iranian weapons, the Houthis are putting Israel’s air defenses to the test, potentially triggering a new stage in the regional arms race
By Nathan Klabin/The Media Line
Since Israel achieved tactical victory against Hezbollah earlier this year, tensions with the Houthis in Yemen have escalated significantly. Over the past eight nights, the Houthis attacked Israel on at least five occasions, primarily by launching missiles targeting central Israel. The Islamist group has vowed to continue attacking Israel until the war in Gaza ends.
The recent Houthi attacks triggered air raid sirens, prompting residents to seek shelter during nighttime hours, but they caused marginal damage or injury. Yet the attacks managed to prove that the Houthis still pose a threat more than a year into the war.
Since October 7, 2023, the Houthis have launched around 200 missiles and 170 drones toward Israel, most of which were intercepted by Israeli defenses. Experts say that the Houthis’ continued attacks show that the group has improved its ballistic technologies and learned from previous attempts to attack Israel.
“Israeli intercepts Houthi missiles, but sometimes its multilayered air defense fails,” Alexander Portnoy, a consultant in mission-critical military sectors and warfare technology, told The Media Line.
Yehoshua Kalisky, an expert in ballistic technology and a senior researcher at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), described Yemen’s military capacity as “not impressive” overall. “Out of the 200 missiles that were launched by the Houthis, only a few penetrated the defense layers, and most of them were intercepted,” he told The Media Line.
But some of the missiles used by the Houthis have become more difficult for Israel to intercept. The Houthis’ Palestine-2 missile has skip-gliding technology, which allows the missile to alter its path during flight by bouncing off the atmosphere rather than following a predictable parabolic trajectory. This technology increases the evasion, precision, and extended range capacity of a ballistic missile and complicates interception.
“Recent upgrades allow the Houthis’ ballistic missiles to perform in-flight corrections and evasive action,” Lenny Ben-David, a research and diplomacy fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, explained to The Media Line. He said that the Iron Dome, Israel’s air defense system, cannot stop the missiles and that Israel’s Arrow anti-ballistic missiles would struggle to respond.
Ben-David said that the recent technological upgrades were provided by Iran. He described the Houthis as a “formidable force of over 800,000 fighters, equipped with advanced Iranian-supplied weaponry, including drones, ballistic missiles, rockets, and anti-aircraft systems.”
The Houthis have long been referred to as an Iranian proxy, although the group also funds itself through taxes collected in the areas of Yemen under its control.
The skip-gliding technology is “not impossible” for the US’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to handle, Ben-David said.
In October 2024, the US deployed its THAAD system to Israel to respond to the Houthi threat. Images recently published online appear to show the THAAD system intercepting a Houthi attack, but the Israeli military has not confirmed the involvement of the THAAD system.
Portnoy said that ballistic missiles like the Palestine-2 and its progenitor, the Iranian KS-2, get around the THAAD system by flying lower to the ground, a tactical trade-off that slows the missile down and causes it to become less precise. He said that deploying THAAD systems in countries along the route from Yemen to Israel could “force the missile to fly at lower altitudes, expending more energy and reducing its speed.”
Iran is the one behind this arms race, Ben-David said. “The goal is to develop systems for delivering nuclear weapons, and traditional ballistic missiles won’t cut it for such purposes. Iran is likely working on more sophisticated technologies, though they aren’t there yet,” he said.
Portnoy described Russia as another player in the arms race, especially given the enormous progress in the Russian defense industry brought on by the current Russian war. Russia has developed hypersonic and quasi-hypersonic missile systems that it has successfully used in conflict, Portnoy said, noting that those technologies have spilled over into the Middle Eastern conflict.
“Currently, it is reported that additional Israeli air defense systems are being developed to counter the hypersonic threats,” Portnoy said. “At present, Israel’s air defense systems capitalize on limited opportunities to intercept such targets under favorable conditions. Reports indicate that additional Israeli air defense systems are under development to address the emerging threat of hypersonic missiles.”
Kobi Michael, a researcher at INSS and the Misgav Institute, said that Israel ought to subject Houthi-controlled areas to a blockade to prevent the group from receiving weapons from Iran.
“In addition to the blockade, Israel should continue targeting them, focusing on critical civilian infrastructure such as airports, seaports, and energy facilities,” Michael told The Media Line. “This should be done in coordination with the international coalition led by the US to drag the Houthis into a war of attrition that imposes a heavy price on them. This strategy would not only involve Israel but also force the Houthis into a prolonged conflict that exhausts them, as Israel will also need to confront the source of the problem: Iran.”
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