American Ally Turns To Chinese Ballistic Missiles To Challenge Iran And Houthis

Saudi Arabia is expanding a secretive ballistic missile manufacturing complex that could produce larger, more powerful Chinese-designed missiles as the kingdom battles Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

The expansion could allow Riyadh to manufacture missiles capable of carrying heavier warheads or striking targets farther away, potentially strengthening its ability to threaten Iran, according to an analysis published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). Saudi Arabia is struggling to contain Houthi attacks while confronting growing regional instability.

“While the United States had been effectively a guarantor of security (providing both opportunities for purchasing assets and equipment as well as providing presence through basing), the retaliatory strikes against those bases by Iran, followed by the U.S.’s lukewarm reaction to supporting some of the Gulf states and rhetoric that indicates the U.S. is not a hard-and-fast partner, make it so that each state (particularly those under greatest threat, like Saudi Arabia) needs to do more to ensure their own defense,” Dr. Ian Ralby, a maritime security expert and president of Auxilium Worldwide, a nonprofit focused on international security and governance, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

However, the new development by the Saudis is likely to be impotent, as not even the might of the U.S. military was able to defeat the Houthi rebels through missile strikes and air superiority.

President Donald Trump’s 2025 bombing campaign against the Houthis cost the U.S. roughly $1 billion in its first month but failed to establish air superiority or stop attacks on U.S. warships, The New York Times reported on May 12, 2025. The Houthis also downed several MQ-9 Reaper drones, while two F/A-18 Super Hornets were lost in carrier accidents, according to the outlet.

The U.S. military launched over 1000 airstrikes on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Pentagon reported on April 29, 2025.

The administration halted the campaign on May 6, 2025, under an Oman-brokered deal requiring the Houthis to stop targeting American ships, but not other commercial vessels, according to the Times.

“Northwestern Yemen is incredibly mountainous terrain, with peaks and valleys that run parallel to the Bab Al-Mandeb & Red Sea—a critical but very narrow passageway,” former director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent said in an X post on July 23. “This combination gives the Houthis a tactical advantage—by positioning themselves on higher ground, they’re able to easily fire down into the Red Sea and monitor & defend their airspace.”

However, the new missiles could prove to be a strategic boon for the Saudis. The Houthis have successfully shot down multiple aircraft in the past, such as the aforementioned MQ-9 drones.