• Houthi rebels are attacking a US warship using naval drones, according to a report.

• Multiple sea drones have been launched at the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the last weeks.

• The use of cheap sea drones has been pioneered, to considerable success, by Ukraine.

As the warship USS Dwight D. Eisenhower fends off attacks in the Red Sea, Houthi rebels have added a new weapon to their arsenal — naval drones, the Associated Press reported.

Houthis have launched multiple explosive, uncrewed vessels at the US aircraft carrier since January 4, adding a new surface-level threat to the attacks it had already faced from airborne drones and missiles, the outlet reported.

Rear Adm. Marc Miguez told the outlet that the sea drones are “more of an unknown threat that we don’t have a lot of intel on, that could be extremely lethal.”

Naval drones present one of the most “scary scenarios,” he said, adding: “To have a bomb-laden, unmanned surface vessel that can go in pretty fast speeds. And if you’re not immediately on scene, it can get ugly extremely quick.”

US forces have encountered Houthi sea drones amid commercial shipping on at least three occasions, specialist outlet the Maritime Executive reported.

On February 5, US forces decided that two such drones presented “an imminent threat” to shipping and took them out, the outlet reported.

The emergent technology of sea drones has been largely pioneered — with considerable success — by Ukraine against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

In the last two weeks alone, Ukraine claims to have sunk a Russian corvette and a landing craft using only a handful of inexpensive, home-produced MAGURA V5 naval drones.

The drones are far from infallible — experts have told Business Insider that they often fail to reach their target — but the payoff if they do hit gives Ukraine an “immense asymmetric advantage,” Basil Germond, an expert in international security at Lancaster University in the UK, said.

Miguez told the AP that, at present, the US Navy does not have good intelligence on how many drones the Houthis have.

The rebel group has also used them in the past against Saudi coalition forces involved in Yemen’s civil war, the AP reported.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower has been under near-constant attack for several weeks, and the commander of its Carrier Strike Group told Business Insider’s Jake Epstein about how US forces have adapted their approach to target Houthi missiles and drones before they can even be launched.

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