MPR Country Profile

Yemen Military Power Ranking 2026

Yemen ranks 85th globally in the 2026 Military Power Rankings. Its military, once among the largest in the Arab world, has been shattered by civil war, factional division, foreign intervention, and the collapse of unified command.

Yemen's current military environment is divided between the internationally recognized government, Houthi forces, southern separatists, tribal forces, and foreign-backed armed networks. The result is a highly combat-experienced but deeply fragmented force landscape.

Civil War Fragmentation Asymmetric Warfare Bab-el-Mandeb Missiles and Drones Tribal Mobilization

MPR Rank85th

MPR Score338

MPR Index0.11401.0000 is perfect

Reverse MPR Index0.83970.0000 is perfect

Z Score-0.295Standard deviations from the mean

Doctrine ProfileAsym, tribes, proxy

MPR Overview

Yemen's military power is difficult to measure through conventional state metrics because the country no longer operates as a unified national military system. Bases, arsenals, airfields, missile stocks, and manpower are divided across rival factions.

The country's military relevance comes from combat experience, rugged terrain, strategic geography near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, missile and drone activity by Houthi forces, and the involvement of regional powers including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran.

Strategic Geography Schematic

Core MPR Strengths

MPR Doctrine and Strategy

Yemen no longer has a unified national defense doctrine. Its military posture is fragmented across Houthi-controlled forces, internationally recognized government forces, southern separatist factions, tribal militias, and foreign-backed units.

The current battlefield model emphasizes asymmetric warfare, militia mobilization, mountain defense, missile and drone attacks, urban fighting, port control, and patron-supported operations rather than centralized conventional defense.

Detailed MPR Assessment

Yemen ranks 85th globally in the 2026 Military Power Rankings. The country’s military, once among the largest in the Arab world, has been devastated by a decade of civil war, sectarian fragmentation, and external intervention. The armed forces are now split between the internationally recognized government, the Houthi movement, and multiple southern separatist factions, each with their own command structures, foreign backers, and military assets.

Despite possessing significant military manpower on paper, Yemen’s defense establishment lacks unified leadership, standardized logistics, and modern equipment. Control of key bases, airfields, and arsenals is divided among competing factions. The Saudi-led coalition backs the central government, while Iran supports Houthi forces, turning Yemen into a proxy battleground that has eroded its national military cohesion.

Years of sustained conflict have made Yemen’s various armed groups highly experienced in guerrilla warfare, asymmetric tactics, and urban combat, particularly in regions like Sana’a, Marib, and Aden.

Yemen controls territory adjacent to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic chokepoint between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Despite ongoing conflict, this geography gives Yemeni forces—especially the Houthis—strategic leverage and potential impact on global maritime shipping.

While this is also a weakness, the presence of foreign military support (from Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others) has injected equipment, drones, and training into various parts of Yemen’s fractured force structure, especially the Houthis and southern separatists.

The Republican Guard, Army, Air Force, and Navy are no longer part of a coherent national structure. Units are loyal to tribes, regions, or foreign patrons, not to a centralized command, effectively ending traditional military functionality.

Years of airstrikes, sabotage, and neglect have destroyed or rendered inoperable most of Yemen’s air bases, missile sites, tank battalions, and naval vessels. Maintenance capacity is minimal, and many frontline units operate with homemade weapons or outdated Soviet-era gear.

Yemen’s military trajectory is now dictated by external actors. Saudi and Emirati forces support northern and southern government-aligned forces, while Iranian weapons and advisors support the Houthis. This makes all sides strategically dependent and vulnerable to foreign political shifts.

Yemen’s military once had the structure, scale, and geography to play a stabilizing role in the Arab Peninsula. Today, it exists as a fragmented patchwork of armed factions, each battling for local dominance or operating at the behest of foreign patrons. While many of these forces are battle-hardened, the absence of a unified command, functional logistics, or national defense doctrine renders Yemen’s military incapable of defending its territorial sovereignty or influencing regional affairs independently. Its ranking reflects both historical capacity and current collapse.

Force Profile

The dated active, reserve and paramilitary categories above use their stated reporting scope. The earlier branch figures are retained separately and should not be added to those totals.

The IISS personnel comparison does not resolve the strength of all Yemeni factions. Ground-equipment totals represent reported legacy holdings across divided forces, with control and serviceability affected by the war.

Ground Forces

Yemen's ground forces exist as a patchwork of government-aligned troops, Houthi forces, tribal fighters, separatist forces, and militia networks. Equipment holdings remain significant on paper, but readiness and control vary widely.

Air Power

Yemen's air force has been devastated by civil war, airstrikes, infrastructure damage, and divided control of bases. Some aircraft remain listed, but operational capability is extremely limited and faction-dependent.

Naval Forces

Yemen's naval forces are small and degraded, but the country's geography gives even limited maritime activity strategic importance. Control near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait gives Yemeni factions potential influence over key maritime routes.

Missile Systems

Yemen's state missile inventory has been heavily degraded, but Houthi forces have used modified ballistic missiles, rockets, drones, and asymmetric strike systems during the civil war. Some systems are believed to have external assistance or foreign-supplied components.

Detailed Missile Inventory

Nuclear and Strategic Deterrence

Yemen is a non-nuclear state and does not maintain nuclear weapons. Its deterrence profile is not based on state-level strategic systems, but on asymmetric pressure, terrain, factional resilience, missile and drone use, and the risks posed to regional shipping and neighboring states.

Cyber, Space, ISR, and Electronic Warfare

Yemen has no military satellite inventory and no unified national ISR architecture. Cyber and electronic warfare capabilities are basic, with Houthi-aligned capabilities benefiting from Iranian support, while government-aligned forces depend on Saudi and UAE intelligence support.

Partnerships and Alliances

Yemen has no unified alliance structure. The internationally recognized government receives support from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, while Houthi forces are supported by Iran. Southern separatists and local militias maintain separate patronage networks, making Yemen's military landscape deeply externalized.

Force Roles and External Support

Yemen’s naval forces are small and limited to coastal defense and patrolling its territorial waters. The country’s strategic location near the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait gives its navy importance in regional security, but due to the ongoing conflict, its capabilities are constrained.

Yemen has some missile capabilities, including older Soviet-era Scud missiles. However, most of these have been deployed or destroyed during the conflict. The Houthi rebels have also used modified ballistic missiles in their campaigns, some believed to have been supplied or assisted by Iran.

Yemen’s military has fractured into different factions aligned with various international powers. The internationally recognized government receives military support from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, while the Houthi rebels are allegedly backed by Iran. This geopolitical entanglement further complicates Yemen's military landscape, with foreign powers providing different types of military support to rival factions.

Tactical Inventory Context

Missile Inventory Highlights: Scud derivatives, Badr, Burkan missiles (Houthi side)

Combat History

Detailed Combat History

Yemen has one of the most extensive modern combat records in the Arabian Peninsula, transitioning from state-led warfare to a multi-front civil conflict shaped by tribalism, sectarianism, and foreign influence.

North Yemen Civil War (1962–1970): A major Cold War–era conflict pitting royalist forces backed by Saudi Arabia against republican forces backed by Egypt. The Egyptian military suffered high casualties, with Yemeni guerrillas waging prolonged resistance in mountainous terrain. This war shaped Yemen’s early guerrilla doctrine.

Yemenite War (1972 & 1979): Brief but violent conflicts between North Yemen and South Yemen, both of which had different ideologies and foreign patrons. These wars revealed structural weaknesses in both militaries and established the pattern of external intervention in Yemeni conflicts.

Unification War – 1994 Civil War: After unification in 1990, rising tensions between northern and southern forces led to civil war. The north, led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, used superior military organization and air assets to crush the southern separatists, centralizing power in Sana’a.

Houthi Insurgency (2004–2010): The Houthis—Zaidi Shi’a rebels from northern Saada—launched multiple uprisings against the government. These insurgencies exposed the Yemeni Army’s inability to operate effectively in the north and set the stage for future full-scale conflict.

Yemeni Civil War (2015–present): The most destructive and ongoing conflict in Yemen’s modern history. Following the Houthi takeover of Sana’a in 2014, a Saudi-led coalition intervened militarily in 2015 to restore the Hadi government. The war has seen extensive use of drones, missiles, proxy fighters, and urban combat, with frontlines shifting across Marib, Hudaydah, Aden, and beyond. The Houthis have launched ballistic missiles and drone strikes against Saudi Arabia and UAE, while the government-aligned forces struggle with fragmentation and dependence on foreign support.

Despite a long and intense history of warfare, Yemen’s current military landscape is defined by state collapse, multi-polar factionalism, and external strategic control. Its forces remain active and combat-proven, but no longer constitute a unified national military capable of traditional state defense.

Geography, Economy, and Infrastructure

National Metrics

Geography, Infrastructure and Sustainment

Natural Resources: Petroleum, natural gas, fish, rock salt, marble, gold

Military Industry Base: Limited; some IED and drone manufacturing

Intelligence Sharing Partnerships: Iran (Houthis), Saudi/UAE (recognized government)

Naval Infrastructure: Limited; some drone boats and Iranian naval support for Houthis

Naval Replenishment Capability: Minimal

Railway Network: None

Energy Imports: High dependence on imports due to war

Strategic Petroleum Reserves: Severely disrupted

Domestic Defense Production: Drones, rockets, IEDs (Houthis); limited conventional in south

Military Installations (Domestic): Divided; Sanaa, Aden, Taiz, Marib

Military Installations (Overseas): None

Foreign Military Personnel Presence: UAE, Iran (covert), Saudi trainers

Defense Alliances: None formal; reliant on patrons

Strategic Airlift Capability: None; foreign-dependent

Wartime Industrial Surge Capacity: Extremely limited

Defense R&D Investment: Minimal; focused on drone warfare and asymmetric systems

Key Wartime Industries Beyond Defense: Black-market fuel trade, arms trafficking, port logistics

Founding Date: May 22, 1990 (unification of North and South Yemen)

System of Government: Transitional dual governments under civil war

Defense Spending Context

Spending Trend: No complete recent five-year SIPRI dollar series is available. Retained MPR assessment (reference period unspecified): Elevated due to civil war; fueled by regional backers

Military Infrastructure and Readiness

Defense Industry

Yemen's defense production is highly fragmented. Houthi-aligned forces have developed or assembled drones, rockets, IEDs, and improvised weapons, while southern and government-aligned forces depend heavily on foreign support and limited conventional supply channels.

Wartime industrial surge capacity is extremely limited. Key conflict-support sectors include black-market fuel trade, arms trafficking, port logistics, informal workshops, and foreign-supplied components.

Why Yemen Ranks 85th

Yemen ranks 85th because it has combat-experienced fighters, strategic geography, significant manpower, and active asymmetric capabilities, but lacks a unified national command, functional logistics, modern equipment, and coherent state-level military control.

Its ranking reflects both historical military capacity and current collapse. Yemen remains militarily active and regionally relevant, but its armed forces are too fragmented to function as a unified national defense institution.

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