Direct proof of use
One-way attack UAVs are directly documented in the 2023 Red Sea Crisis through U.S. Central Command reporting on Houthi launches from Yemen. On January 9, 2024, CENTCOM said Iranian-backed Houthis launched Iranian-designed one-way attack UAVs, anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled Yemen toward southern Red Sea shipping lanes where merchant vessels were transiting.
CENTCOM reported that a combined force of U.S. Navy F/A-18s, four U.S. destroyers, and HMS Diamond shot down 18 one-way attack UAVs, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile during that attack. The statement identified the incident as the 26th Houthi attack on Red Sea commercial shipping lanes since November 19, 2023.
Sources: CENTCOM 26th Houthi Attack Statement
Timeline
The public record shows one-way attack UAVs as part of the Houthi maritime strike pattern before and after the first U.S.-UK strikes in Yemen. CTC Sentinel assessed that early anti-shipping strikes in December 2023 and early January 2024 included one-way attack drones with small warheads, while CENTCOM's January 9 statement provided a precise official count for one of the largest mixed salvos.
Later CENTCOM updates continued to identify Houthi one-way attack UAV activity around commercial shipping. On February 23, 2024, CENTCOM said U.S. forces shot down three Houthi one-way attack UAVs near several commercial ships in the Red Sea after earlier self-defense strikes against Houthi UAVs and anti-ship cruise missiles prepared to launch from Yemen.
Sources: CTC Assessing the Houthi War Effort, CENTCOM 26th Houthi Attack Statement, CENTCOM Red Sea Update February 23
Role in the campaign
In Red Sea Crisis use, the one-way attack UAV appeared as a Houthi standoff and saturation weapon rather than a reusable reconnaissance aircraft. The documented employment paired UAVs with anti-ship cruise missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles, creating mixed air and missile threats aimed at shipping lanes, merchant vessels, and naval forces operating around the southern Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and Gulf of Aden.
The model identity is often source-dependent. CENTCOM's January 2024 statement used the class term one-way attack UAV, while CSIS Missile Threat states that by early 2024 the Houthis employed Shahed-136 UAVs against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and identifies Houthi Waid naming for Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 systems. This page therefore treats the evidence as class-level use, with Shahed/Waid-family context where the source explicitly supports it.
Coalition operations also targeted the Houthi UAV infrastructure behind these attacks. In the February 24, 2024 multinational strike package, CENTCOM said targets included one-way attack unmanned aerial systems along with weapons storage, missile storage, air-defense systems, radars, and a helicopter in Houthi-controlled Yemen.
Sources: CENTCOM 26th Houthi Attack Statement, CSIS Missile Threat Shahed-131 and -136, CENTCOM February 24 Joint Strikes
