Monday, 29 May 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The following list attempts to keep track of military equipment delivered or pledged to Ukraine by Spain during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The entries below are sorted by armament category (with a flag denoting the country of origin). Due to the confidential nature of Spain's arms deliveries they can serve only as a lower bound to the total volume of weaponry delivered. This list will be updated as further military support is uncovered or declared.
 
* Purchases by the Ukrainian government from Spanish defence companies.

Saturday, 27 May 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The following list attempts to keep track of military equipment delivered or pledged to Ukraine by Sweden during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The entries below are sorted by armament category (with a flag denoting the country of origin), and due to the confidential nature of some arms deliveries they can serve only as a lower bound to the total volume delivered. This list is updated as further military support is uncovered.

Monday, 22 May 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
A group of Russian insurgents known as the Freedom of Russia Legion, who are aligned with the Ukrainian Armed Forces, crossed the border with Russia's Belgorod Oblast on the 22th of May 2023. The Freedom of Russia Legion, a unit that consists only of Russian volunteers, subsequently announced that it and the Russian Volunteer Corps (a different group reportedly responsible for an incursion into the Bryansk region in March) had secured the village of Kozinka in the Belgorod region, and that its forward detachments had entered the town of Grayvoron. 
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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The following list attempts to keep track of military equipment delivered or pledged to Ukraine by Italy during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The entries below are sorted by armament category (with a flag denoting the country of origin). Due to the confidential nature of Italy's arms deliveries they can serve only as a lower bound to the total volume of weaponry delivered. This list will be updated as further military support is uncovered or declared.

Sunday, 21 May 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The following list attempts to keep track of military equipment delivered or pledged to Ukraine by Slovakia shortly prior and during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The entries below are sorted by armament category (with a flag denoting the country of origin), and due to the confidential nature of some arms deliveries they can serve only as a lower bound to the total volume delivered. This list is updated as further military support is uncovered.

Saturday, 20 May 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The following list attempts to keep track of military equipment delivered or pledged to Ukraine by Montenegro during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The entries below are sorted by armament category (with a flag denoting the country of origin), and due to the confidential nature of some arms deliveries they can serve only as a lower bound to the total volume delivered. This list is updated as further military support is uncovered.

Wednesday, 17 May 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The following list attempts to keep track of military equipment delivered or pledged to Ukraine by Denmark during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The entries below are sorted by armament category (with a flag denoting the country of origin), and due to the confidential nature of some arms deliveries they can serve only as a lower bound to the total volume delivered. This list is updated as further military support is uncovered.

Wednesday, 19 April 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The goal of this list is to comprehensively catalogue Sudan's current inventory of vehicles and equipment. In an effort to streamline the list and avoid unnecessary confusion, radars, trucks and technicals are not included in the list. Vehicles offered for sale by Sudan's Military Industry Corporation (MIC) that haven't entered service with the Sudanese Armed Forces and equipment (formerly) deployed with the Sudanese contingent deployed to Yemen but not owned by Sudan are not included in this list. If several configurations of a vehicle with one designation are known, they are added as such. Sudanese designations are not included to avoid confusion as these often consist of one designation that is used for several vehicle types. The part within the apostrophes refers to other designations or an unofficial designation. When available, the range (of rockets and missiles) are added.
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By Stijn Mitzer, Joost Oliemans and Elmustek
 
This list aims to comprehensively catalogue the equipment losses during the 2023 Sudan Crisis. This list does not discern between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Captured equipment, damaged ground vehicles and (destroyed) technicals are not included in this list. This list is updated as new losses are uncovered. For a dedicated list of Sudanese aircraft losses during the 2023 Sudan Crisis click here.
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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans in collaboration with Gerjon

This list aims to comprehensively catalogue the (operational) aircraft and helicopters destroyed and damaged during the 2023 Sudan Crisis. Captured aircraft and helicopters as well as derelict aircraft are not included in this list. This list is updated as new losses are uncovered. For a list of vehicle losses during the 2023 Sudan Crisis click here.
 
(Click on the numbers to get a picture of each individual destroyed or damaged aircraft)

Tuesday, 4 April 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Yeni dört denizaltı gemimiz için bildirdiğimiz isimler şunlardır; 1) Saldıray, 2) Batıray, 3) Atılay, 4) Yıldıray. Bunların manalarını izaha bile hacet olmadığı kanaatındayım. Manaları, som Türkçe olan bu kelimelerin kendisindedir, yani saldıran, batıran, atılan, yıldıran. – The names we have announced for our four new submarines are as follows; 1) Saldıray, 2) Batıray, 3) Atılay, 4) Yıldıray. I believe there is no need to explain their meanings. The meanings of these words, which are pure Turkish in themselves, that is, (the one who) attacks, (the one who) sinks, (the one who) shoots, (the one who) intimidates. (By Mustafa Kemal Atatürk)

Sunday, 2 April 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
If you don't see the book you want on the shelf, write it yourself (By Beverly Cleary)
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By Teslashark in collaboration with Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
There are lions, and there are lambs. Rule, or be ruled. A Castillo must be a lion. For Yara is full of lambs. (By Antón Castillo)
 
The 2021 Yaran Civil War was largely overshadowed by the Nagorno-Karabakh War one year prior and the Russo-Ukrainian War shortly thereafter. The war quickly proved a single-cell thunderstorm similar in intensity to the former, yet located right in the middle of America's Caribbean backyard. A significant number of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) were deployed by both the Fuerzas Nacionales de Defensa loyal to the brutal regime of Antón Castillo and the opposing rebel alliance known as Libertad. One of the AFVs that saw intensive action on both sides was a deceptively unassuming tank, the HS-100. Often misidentified and reported as a T-55 or T-62 by even the most seasoned military analysts, the HS-100 MBT is the perfect embodiment of the tumultuous history of the Caribbean island nation of Yara.

Saturday, 1 April 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
People who want to appear clever rely on memory. People who want to get things done make lists. (By Peter McWilliams)

Sunday, 26 March 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The Taiwanese Army has historically received the least amount of funding out of the Taiwanese Armed Forces' three main service branches. With a yearly budget of only $19 billion (in 2023), the Taiwanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) is forced to prioritise investments in the country's air force and navy to have some chance in keeping up with China's rapid military build-up. As the Taiwanese Army will enter combat only after Chinese forces have already landed on Taiwan or one of the various island groups off China's coast, the priority for the Taiwanese Armed Forces has been to establish a viable deterrent and realistic wartime capabilities through the acquisition of weapons systems like fighter jets, anti-ship missiles and air defence systems to deter China from carrying out an amphibious landing in the first place.

Saturday, 25 March 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Despite investing tens of billions of USD into its Armed Forces over the past two decades, Venezuela is curiously left with a military that is significantly weaker than before these investments were made. This spectacular feat is not only the result of highly peculiar procurement decisions, but also due to the fact that the Venezuelan Armed Forces of the late 1990s was in fact among the most powerful in South America. For years procuring modern armament from sources like the United States, France and Israel, these countries were replaced by Russia, China and Iran after the United States imposed an arms embargo against Venezuela in 2006 because of President Hugo Chávez's policies.

Friday, 24 March 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The Battle for Luxembourg was a short battle between the Luxembourg Gendarmerie, Volunteer Corps and the German Wehrmacht that resulted in a swift victory for Nazi Germany. The invasion that prompted it began on the 10th of May 1940 and lasted just one day. As a result of the 1867 Treaty of London, Luxembourg had no army and relied on a small force of Gendarmes and volunteers for its defence. Despite not even possessing an army, Luxembourg still managed to fend off the German Blitzkrieg longer than Denmark, which despite actually possessing an army and air force surrendered after just two hours of fighting when it got invaded by Nazi Germany on the 9th of April 1940.

Thursday, 23 March 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Staying neutral during the Second World War was an art form that Türkiye managed to master through clever diplomacy. It would take until February 1945 when the country finally declared war on Nazi Germany and Japan, and even then no Turkish troops actually took part in the remainder of World War II. In fact, Türkiye's late entry into the war was little more than a formality after the Allies conditioned Türkiye's full belligerency in order to be invited to the United Nations. This no-show was undoubtedly much to the dismay of the British, who had actually expected Türkiye to declare war on Germany already on the 28th of October 1940, when Italy launched its invasion of Greece.

Wednesday, 22 March 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer, Joost Oliemans and Kemal
  
Those expecting the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine to be a spectacle of Russian military might were soon left sorely disappointed. Yet the degradation of its combat abilities has continued apace, and one year into its war the cracks in the Russian military machine are starting to widen into chasms. Sustaining losses that meanwhile number over 1800 tanks and more than 2000 IFVs, the Russian Army has already reached the point at which it is no longer able to replace lost equipment with armament that is at least roughly equivalent to the combat worth of the equipment lost. [1] In order to replace its lost T-72B3 Obr. 2016s and T-80BVMs MBTs, the Russian arms industry hasn't churned out any of the much anticipated T-14 Armatas, but rather begun introducing hundreds of refurbished or upgraded variants of the antiquated T-62 MBT and even 1950s-era T-54s in an unmodified state. [2]
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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
After decades of bidding for peace, Japan is now once more preparing for the possibility of war, for the first time truly introducing offensive capabilities to the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) and installing long-range anti-ship missiles on islands near Taiwan. Despite its post-Cold War hopes of diplomatically resolving its territorial conflicts, it now finds itself perched at the edge of an increasingly assertive China and Russia (which still occupies four of Japan's southernmost Kuril Islands) and a nuclear-capable North Korea. As part of its attempts to strengthen its military posture, Japan is also seeking to increase the capabilities of Asian countries against Chinese interference and enhance sea surveillance, most notably the Philippines and Malaysia.

Tuesday, 21 March 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania was a Marxist-Leninist one party state that existed from 1946 until 1991. Throughout much of its existence, the country was led by Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania by establishing a Stalinist style of governance known as Hoxhaism. Despite far-reaching similarities with North Korea, Albania and its authoritarian ruler arguably constitute a forgotten chapter of the Cold War period. Albania's close ties with the Soviet Union until the Albanian–Soviet split in 1961, then with China until the Sino-Albanian split in 1978 and ultimately its almost complete international isolation from 1978 onwards had a profound effect on the equipment inventory and operational readiness of the Albanian People's Army (UPSh). To this day, the UPSh remains the only European military to have been mostly equipped with Chinese-made weaponry, aircraft, ships and other equipment.

Monday, 20 March 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Transnistria owes its existence to a brief war in 1992 between Moldova and Russian-backed separatists who feared that Moldova would become part of Romania after the collapse of the USSR. The war ended when the Russian 14th Army, stationed in what was then the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, intervened on behalf of Transnistria and defeated the forces of the newly independent Republic of Moldova. Despite the fact that armed conflict ceased the same year, the situation in Transnistria remains extremely complicated, with the breakaway state wishing to join the Russian Federation while remaining reliant on Moldova for exporting the limited produce its economy outputs.

Monday, 6 March 2023

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By Joost Oliemans and Stijn Mitzer
 
The goal of this list is to comprehensively catalogue North Korea's current inventory of vehicles and equipment. In an effort to streamline the list and avoid unnecessary confusion, civilian trucks towing military trailers and military trucks on which missiles, rockets or radars are based are not included in the list. If several configurations of a vehicle with one designation are known, they are added as such. The part within apostrophes refers to an unoffical name, such as the US DoD M-xxxx designation system (referring to the first year the system was identified). A year in square brackets after the designation of a vehicle refer to its perceived date of inception. When available, the range (of missiles) are added in square brackets. All vehicles listed are presumed to still be in use with the Korean People's Army. This list is updated as additional vehicle types are uncovered.

Friday, 3 March 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
  
February 2023 marks one full year of epic struggle on Ukraine's part to preserve its very existence. Rather than succumbing to the invaders beleaguering the country from the North, South and East, it has managed take the initiative in a conflict that was heavily stacked against it. Yet one year also marks the point where the war is beginning to surpass perhaps any conflict since WWII in terms of ferocity and, necessarily, losses. Though these losses are skewed to the Russian side, attrition on the Ukrainian side is also unprecedented, and sustainable only through material support from its allies. With new contingents of Western armament on the way, this list now attempts to denote what types of heavy equipment are known to be in use on the battlefield that have not yet been confirmed destroyed or captured. As opposed, to the Russian counterpart of this list, we might thus expect this list to grow rather than dwindle down as time progresses.

Thursday, 2 March 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
  
Russia's one year anniversary of its special military operation in Ukraine marks a pivotal point not just for its symbolic significance, but also because it coincides with a sudden realisation on our part. That being that keeping track of the types of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) and aircraft in use by the Russian Armed Forces that have been destroyed has become considerably harder than listing those that haven't been, and subtracting from that list as time progresses. Hence, the list that follows.

Friday, 13 January 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The mid-to-late 1990s was shaping up to become the Royal Thai Armed Forces' golden decade. The acquisition of 18 F-16As propelled the Royal Thai Air Force to the forefront of military aviation in the region, while the Royal Thai Army was reinforced through the addition of M60A3 MBTs and 155mm M109A5 SPGs. The Royal Thai Navy was to benefit from this period of prominence the most, becoming the recipient of Southeast Asia's first and only aircraft carrier, the HTMS Chakri Narubet. Equipped with six AV-8S Matadors and four S-70B Seahawks, this ship, along with 18 A-7E Corsair ground-attack aircraft, three P-3T ASW aircraft and a brand-new replenishment ship and six frigates acquired from China, was set to transform the Royal Thai Navy into the most powerful naval force in the region for years to come.

Thursday, 12 January 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Looking at the title and header image one might easily be led to conclude that we've gotten the aircraft type wrong for this particular article. Where is the characteristic fully glazed cockpit everyone has come to know the Heinkel He 111 for, one might ask.* Nonetheless, this aircraft too is a German-made Heinkel He 111. In fact, it's one of 24 aircraft of the type delivered to the Turkish Air Force (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri) in late 1937 and early 1938. The lack of the He 111's most distinguishing feature is explained by the fact that the aircraft purchased by Türkiye were of the earlier J series, while the infamous glazed nose cockpit design was only introduced on aircraft from the more common P series onwards.

Wednesday, 11 January 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The subject of U.S.-made military equipment in active service with Communist Vietnam has fascinated military enthusiasts and analysts alike. For all their fascination however, relatively little has been written about the continued use of U.S. military equipment by unified Vietnam after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. On the rare occasion that the subject has been covered, most attention has gone towards the operations of captured aircraft like the F-5E, C-130 and UH-1. North Vietnam is estimated to have captured more than 1.100 aircraft and helicopters from the Republic of Vietnam Air Force. Equally significant numbers of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) ended up in its hands, some of which to this day still bolster the inventory of the Vietnamese People's Army.

Tuesday, 10 January 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Military enthusiasts are always on the hunt for new captivating war stories. Mark Felton has already done a great job in bringing a great number of elusive war stories to the attention of a worldwide audience, and yet more stories lay hidden in dusty archives or elusive photographs, waiting to one day be uncovered. One such story details the design and construction of Midget U-Boats by a German submariner - working together with Indonesian freedom fighters that had served in the Dutch Navy - on the island of Java in 1947. [1] Though one of the contraptions sank during its first sea trial, their design and construction by a German submariner (rather than an actual designer) in a steel factory with no professional tools means was nonetheless an impressive feat.

Saturday, 7 January 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

İstikbal göklerdedir. Göklerini koruyamayan uluslar, yarınlarından asla emin olamazlar. - The future is in the skies. Because nations that cannot protect their skies, can never be sure of their future. (By Mustafa Kemal Atatürk)
 
December 14th, 2022. The Bayraktar Kızılelma unmanned combat aircraft conducts its maiden flight from Tekirdağ-Çorlu-Atatürk Airport. Fast rewind 85 years to September 1937, when the first of 20 Martin 139WT bombers purchased from the U.S. lands at Tekirdağ-Çorlu-Atatürk Airport to begin its service with the Turkish Air Force. From receiving its first true bomber aircraft from the U.S. at Çorlu in 1937 to the test flight of its first indigenously-designed unmanned combat aircraft from Çorlu 85 years later, Türkiye has made great strides in becoming a defence giant.

Thursday, 5 January 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Türkiye's rich aviation history spans far more time and projects than most people are presently aware of. Unfortunately, many of the country's indigenous aviation projects have received little attention outside of Türkiye, and even in the country itself some designs remain completely unknown even to seasoned aviation enthusiasts. Of course, it doesn't help that many of the country's early aircraft designs were destined to remain limited to the drawing board – as was the case with the 1930s-era Nu.D.40 fighter aircraft by Turkish aircraft manufacturer Nuri Demirağ – or limited to prototypes only before being cancelled due to a lack of political commitment. [1]
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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Misfortune befalls a person like a falcon springs on an innocent gazelle. (By Emir Ben Kalish Ezab)
 
The Khemed Civil War was a civil war in the Emirate of Khemed that began in 1956 when Sheikh Bab El Ehr, with international backing from Greek-American business tycoon Roberto Rastapopoulos, American arms dealer J.M. Dawson and Doctor Müller (nom de guerre: Mull Pasha), overthrew the regime of Emir Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab. The war arose when the Emir withdrew the landing rights of Arabair, one of Rastapopoulos' companies, after the airline refused to loop-the-loop before landing at Wadesdah International Airport for the pleasure of the Emir's son Abdallah. As Wadesdah was a key link in a major smuggling route run by Arabair, the Emir proved bad for business.

Wednesday, 4 January 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Considering the significant investments made by Azerbaijan in the acquisition of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), it is perhaps surprising that Armenia entered the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War with only a rudimentary unmanned aerial reconnaissance capability, and almost no unmanned offensive capabilities to speak of. [1] While the Armenian Ministry of Defence boasted of having destroyed three Azerbaijani MBTs through the use of domestically-made loitering munitions during the July 2020 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes, the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War showed that despite this zealous claim, no such capabilities truly existed in the inventory of the Armenian Armed Forces at that time. [2]
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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
It is not often that a tank is so uncommon that it has eluded correct identification by even the most seasoned military enthusiasts. Nevertheless, this appears to be the case with the Soviet T-37A amphibious light tank, one example of which was supplied to Türkiye in 1934. Incorrectly IDed as an indigenously-designed amphibious light tank supposedly designated as the MKE Kırıkkale M-1943, this innocent misinterpretation might have well been the result of the scarcity of information available on Soviet weapons shipments to the Turkish Army in the early to mid-1930s.

Tuesday, 3 January 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Rumours of organised pro-Gaddafi resistance have persisted since the end of the First Libyan Civil War in late 2011. With the exception of a number of attacks and car bombings in 2012 to 2014, an organised resistance movement never truly materialised however. Instead, the second son of the late Libyan leader Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is seeking to regain his father's power through political means, and in November 2021 attempted to register as a candidate in the 2021 Libyan presidential election but was rejected. [1] This decision was overturned less than a month later, reinstating him as a presidential candidate for the elections that are now scheduled to take place at some point in 2023. [2]

Monday, 2 January 2023

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By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Yemen's Houthis have managed to build up a military arsenal that exceeds the capabilities of many larger nation states. In addition to operating a wide range of Iranian-designed loitering munitions and ballistic missiles, the Houthis also field a number of naval craft, water-borne improvised explosive devices (WBIEDs), anti-ship missiles (AShMs), naval mines and even anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs). And although the Houthi's Navy has scarcely received any attention over the years, it has definitely left its mark on the Yemeni War. Notable feats have included the destruction of the HSV-2 Swift by an AShM in 2016, a successful WBIED attack on the Saudi frigate Al Madinah in 2017, the sinking of an Emirati minelayer in 2017 and the damaging and capture of two Saudi landing craft in 2020 and 2022. [1]