It seems that a stormbreaker may have landed intact in Yemen, which increases the risk that the American bomb could fall into the wrong hands

• The American navy seems to use new “stormbreaker” that slide bombs against the Houthis.

• What seemed to be one of this guided ammunition was spotted this week in the Zand in Yemen.

• Fully intact wreck can be used by American opponents, including Iran.

American fighter jets seem to use advanced “stormbreaker” precision sliding bombs in the fight against the Houthis, part of the intense bombing against the rebels supported by Iran.

An image of what looked like a non-deflected bomb made by the US in the sand, began to circulate on social media on Thursday. Open-Source Intelligence Accounts Insolated The image to the southern Shabwah Government of Yemen.

Trevor Ball, a former explosive relocation technician of the US Army, identified the ammunition as the GBU-53/B Stormbreaker, a relatively new ammunition in Arsenal, USA. He told Business Insider that the discovery of the bomb, apparently completely intact, emphasizes a problem: it can fall into the wrong hands.

The GBU-53/B, known as the Bomb Increment II of the small diameter, is a steadache weapon launched by air with precision management and pop-out wings. The bomb of 200 pounds is made by the American defense contractor Raytheon, now RTX, and can be released from carrier-based fighter aircraft such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

The weapon can be used against moving and stationary goals and can work in bad weather according to Naval Air Systems Command. The bomb can also receive updated target coordinates during the flight.

In October 2023, the Navy declared early operational possibilities for the stormbreaker and said his Super Hornets would be the first platforms to wear the bomb.

US Central Command, which supervises the activities of the Middle East, published images last month that seem to show, among other things, ordnance on board the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which was at the forefront of the Houthi conflict.

The war zone, which reported for the first time on Friday about the discovery of the Stormbreaker in Yemen, saw evidence last month that the Navy had used the ammunition in battle for the first time.

The image of the apparent stormbreak seems to be the clearest sign that the US uses this weapon against the Houthis. The fact that the ammunition is completely intact suggests that air defenses have not eliminated it. A defense officer refused to answer BI's questions about the incident or to provide further details.

Ball, a researcher at Armament Research Services, said that the risk in this situation is that Iran, that the Houthis has long supported, could get the stormbreaker.

“The Iranians are notorious for reverse engineering weapons systems and creating their own versions,” said Ball. “The faster Iran can acquire weapons to exploit compared to the US they keep in the field, the more Iran can try to limit gaps in their possibilities.”

This could even benefit from Russia, which has enjoyed more and more close defenses with Iran since Moscow launched its full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ball explained that although the stormbreaker reportedly found in a part of Yemen that the Houthis do not check: “It emphasizes the risk of non -depleted ammunition that ends up in Iranian possession,” especially in view of the fact that there are probably very classified components in the ammunition.

“The greater the scale of air strikes and use, the greater the chance that this will be,” Ball said, adding that the same risk applies to the AGM-158, which the US used against the Houthis.

The AGM-158 or Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm) is a secret, long-distance scruise rocket developed by Lockheed Martin. The Jassm and Stormbreaker are remote controls, which means that aircraft can release them from a distance and avoid Houthi Air defenses, in contrast to conventional gravity bombs that have fallen directly over a target.

The US also seem to use the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW), including advanced ammunition, against the Houthis.

The US has been bombing the Houthis for six weeks to let the rebels stop their attacks on the Red Sea. Since the beginning, the army has publicly announced very few details about the intense campaign, although it recognized a large Houthi-controlled oil terminal last week. Allegedly, dozens of people were killed in the attack.

Defense secretary Pete Hegseeth said on Thursday that the US attacked hundreds of Houthi goals since the campaign began and decimated its leadership. However, analysts have doubted that the strikes will effectively eliminate the possibilities of the rebels; Previous stitches not. Only a few days ago they fired rockets on Israel.

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