The two anti-ship missile (ASM) attacks on the USS Mason (DDG-87) early this month in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off southern Yemen will likely be repeated on other U.S. Navy warships that will face missiles made in Russia, China and Iran.

The Navy should prepare for a future operating environments marked by the global proliferation of ASMs. The presence of more of these deadly weapons will make attacks on Navy warships more commonplace, believes Vice Admiral Joseph Mulloy, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Integration of Capabilities and Resources.

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"USS Mason down there off the coast of Yemen -- we can't prove anything right now, but I guarantee that Yemen by itself is not going to produce a Silkworm missile, a bunch of different radars. It just isn't going to happen in a third-world country," said Adm. Mulloy.

"It's coming from somewhere, and the propagation of the selling of this stuff. I mean Iran is trying to get more advanced stuff from Russia and they're selling it on the secondary market.

"So what is amazing is, in the next few years, everywhere the Navy goes, if you're not in a submarine, you better watch out because every crappy country will be able to launch high-speed missiles at you and the propagation of that is going to be amazing.

"What it indicates is, if you want to be there initially to check what's going on, you better either have a fabulous set of radar and missiles, or you better be a submarine and be able to watch what's going on."

Naval experts now agree Chinese-built C-802 (NATO reporting name CSS-N-8 Saccade) were used in the unsuccessful attacks on the USS Mason.

Iran has supplied C-802 to its Houthi allies fighting to overthrow the Yemini government backed by Saudi Arabia. The C-802 is the export version of China's YJ-8 ASM that carries a 190 kg warhead to a distance of 120 km. The YJ-8 arms China's Xian H-6 strategic heavy bombers.

Tagsanti-ship missile, USS Mason, yemen, Vice Admiral Joseph Mulloy, C-802, Iran, Russia