Direct proof of use
The public evidence for AGM-158C LRASM use in the 2023 Red Sea Crisis comes from a May 22, 2025 U.S. Defense Department Comptroller reprogramming action. The document requested replacement funding for Long Range Anti-Ship Missile C-3 all-up rounds described as expended in support of the Defense Department response to the situation in Israel, and placed the broader unfunded-cost context inside the USCENTCOM region.
TWZ reported on the reprogramming language in July 2025 and assessed that the expenditure would have come at least partly in U.S. operations against Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, because those operations were the major USCENTCOM campaign tied to the Israel-linked Red Sea crisis. The same report cautioned that the public record did not disclose the target, launch platform, strike location, or whether the C-3 designation in the budget text reflected the exact missile variant fired.
Sources: Israel Security Replacement Transfer Fund Tranche 8, TWZ LRASM Middle East Analysis
Timeline
The Red Sea crisis began after Houthi forces started missile, drone, and maritime attacks connected to the Israel-Hamas war in late 2023. The U.S. initially emphasized maritime defense and limited strikes, then shifted in March 2025 to Operation Rough Rider, a larger strike campaign against Houthi targets in Yemen.
On April 27, 2025, CENTCOM said Operation Rough Rider had struck more than 800 targets and intentionally limited details about current and future operations for operational-security reasons. The next month, the Defense Department reprogramming action recorded LRASM C-3 rounds as expended in the Israel-response USCENTCOM context; TWZ publicly connected that budget entry to the Houthi/Red Sea theater on July 15, 2025.
Sources: Operation Rough Rider Assessment, CENTCOM Targets Houthi Terrorists, Israel Security Replacement Transfer Fund Tranche 8, TWZ LRASM Middle East Analysis
Operational context
LRASM is a U.S. air-launched anti-surface warfare cruise missile built for long-range standoff attack against maritime targets. Lockheed Martin describes it as a multi-platform, multi-mission offensive anti-surface warfare weapon, and its fast-facts material identifies C-1 and C-3 configurations within the LRASM family.
In the Red Sea crisis record, the missile's role is best described as a reported U.S. standoff-strike expenditure rather than a fully documented battlefield incident. The available sources support U.S. expenditure of LRASM rounds in the USCENTCOM response and a plausible Houthi/Red Sea connection, but they do not establish whether the missile was fired at a vessel, a coastal target, a storage site, or another target set.
Sources: Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, Long Range Anti-Ship Missile Fast Facts, Israel Security Replacement Transfer Fund Tranche 8, TWZ LRASM Middle East Analysis
