Since late 2023, the U.S. Navy has fired nearly $1 billion worth of munitions to protect ships in the Red Sea from low-cost Houthi drones and missiles. The headlines that followed have rightly pointed out the absurdity of firing multi-million dollar missiles against cheap drones. But those headlines miss the bigger picture.Behind each intercept lies a vast and expensive ecosystem: the carrier strike group and its escorts, the logistics tail that keeps them fueled, the training pipeline for crews, and the command-and-control networks that make the engagement possible. In reality, the cost of downing each drone is not a fewThe post The Hidden Cost of a Missile: Why the Headlines Get Cost Wrong appeared first on War on the Rocks.