In a world dominated by major military and technological powers, it has long been rare for a military experience to emerge from a besieged and war-torn country like Yemen and assert itself as a reference point in reshaping the rules of engagement and building new combat doctrines.
Yet, what has unfolded in the Red Sea in recent years has revealed an unconventional equation that has compelled even the United States—along with other powers such as Russia and China—to reconsider the structure of their armed forces in light of what has come to be known as the "Yemeni school" of asymmetric warfare.
Yemen is no longer merely a local or regional battleground. It has become a source of inspiration for military tactics that have upended the balance of warfare and imposed a new reality, forcing global powers to reassess their combat approaches. Yemen has succeeded in exporting a unique and unfamiliar military experience that has directly influenced the military doctrines of major nations, foremost among them America.
Reports issued by Western research centers and analyses from senior American military officials indicate that Washington is no longer developing its capabilities solely to counter traditional threats. Instead, it has begun restructuring its naval power specifically, based on the lessons learned from its confrontation with Yemeni armed forces in the Red Sea. In this context, the American military affairs outlet Business Insider published a report revealing statements by the commander of a U.S. destroyer, who confirmed that the Pentagon is currently relying on the lessons of its Red Sea engagement with Yemen to craft plans for confronting powerful adversaries such as Russia and China. U.S. Navy Commander Thomas Hudner stated that what happened in the Red Sea represents a complex and unprecedented combat experience, and emphasized that the United States is now compelled to take this experience into account to safeguard the future of its naval forces.
According to the outlet, this new American direction stems from the significant challenges faced by the U.S. Naval forces in the Red Sea, manifested in ammunition depletion, operational fatigue among destroyer crews, and difficulties in resupply, even from ports presumed to be friendly. Despite Washington’s numerical and technological superiority, it found itself unable to neutralize Yemeni tactics described as "simple but effective."
The impact has not been limited to the United States alone. Russia has also adopted the same approach in its conflict with Ukraine, increasing its use of low-cost drones and moving away from an exclusive reliance on high-expenditure conventional power. Russian analysts have noted this shift, recognizing that Yemen has shown the world how emerging powers can assert their presence and inflict heavy losses on more advanced adversaries.
Ukraine, in turn, has followed the same path, plunging both sides of the conflict into a war of attrition characterized by tactics that closely resemble those employed by Sana’a in recent years.
The ongoing changes in the strategic plans of major powers reflect an implicit acknowledgment that Yemen is no longer just a party under pressure, but one that is now setting new rules for the game. The Yemeni school of warfare—based on low-cost but highly effective technologies—has presented an unprecedented model for creating genuine deterrence and exhausting the enemy with what are assumed to be modest weapons.
Targeting aircraft carriers with ballistic missiles and deploying drones against warships are military precedents rarely seen before, turning the Yemeni experience into subject matter now studied in the strategic planning rooms of the world’s leading powers.
What Yemen has imposed in terms of field equations and new rules of engagement is no longer a passing achievement. It has become a strategic transformation that will change the face of future warfare. As Washington and other major global powers seek to adapt their capabilities to what the Yemeni school has imposed, it becomes increasingly clear that the era of traditional dominance is beginning to fade, giving way to asymmetric combat models capable of redefining power balances and the cost of deterrence in the modern world.
