By Khyati Singh*
Fully armed with anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine weaponry, US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have been successfully intercepting Houthi missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles in the Red Sea since late 2023. (From: The Strategist. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute.)
Although successful in execution, the unsustainable economical and tactical model hides a strategic problem: hundred-billion-dollar warships are spending more than US$4 million on a single missile to defend against a drone worth a few thousand dollars.
