Aden (South24 Center)

The Southern Giants Forces announced on Tuesday, June 30, that they had seized a boat in the Bab Al-Mandab area carrying a shipment of equipment intended for the manufacture of drones and explosive-laden boats for the Houthis. The boat was reportedly attempting to transport the shipment to the coast of Hodeidah Governorate, which is under the group’s control on Yemen’s western coast.

In a statement, the forces said the seizure followed “precise tracking,” adding that three Houthi sailors on board the boat were arrested.

The statement said the shipment included various types of equipment, including a hydraulic drilling machine, servers, electronic chips used to operate drones, GPS tracking devices, as well as engines and equipment related to the manufacture of explosive-laden boats.

Images published by the Southern Giants Forces show a large shipment that had been unloaded and sorted on the pier, consisting of cardboard boxes and various industrial, electronic, and mechanical equipment. A technical review of the images by the South24 Center suggests that the shipment consists of several layers of equipment, including precision navigation devices, industrial communication and control systems, digital manufacturing components, batteries, electronic boards, and mechanical and structural parts that could be used in the manufacture or testing of unmanned systems.

Among the most prominent items visible in the images are two devices bearing the name ZLAN 5843A-H. These are eight-port industrial device servers used to connect serial communication ports, such as RS232/RS485, to TCP/IP networks and support industrial protocols such as Modbus. These devices are not drone components in themselves, but they are used in control and testing environments and to connect sensors or industrial controllers to networks.

Small black units labeled CUAV C-RTK2 are also visible. According to the manufacturer’s specifications, these are high-precision GNSS/RTK modules designed for unmanned systems. They provide high-accuracy positioning and heading through dual antennas and support communication interfaces such as UART and DroneCAN.

These components are particularly significant because they are directly linked to the guidance of drones or unmanned vehicles in environments requiring precise navigation.

Boxes bearing the CubePilot brand are also visible. CubePilot is a well-known brand in the field of flight control and navigation modules for unmanned systems. Its documentation indicates that some of its products, such as the Here 4, are high-precision, dual-frequency RTK/GNSS navigation modules that support multiple satellite systems, including GPS, BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS, and QZSS.

Although the images alone do not make it possible to identify the exact model inside the boxes, they reinforce the likelihood that the shipment included navigation and control equipment linked to unmanned systems.

On the manufacturing side, equipment and accessories bearing the Makera brand appear in the images, including boxes labeled “Filter Cartridge,” alongside a white and black device that appears to be dust collection equipment for desktop CNC machines.

Makera markets its products as desktop CNC machines and related equipment used for carving, milling, cutting, and engraving, including prototyping and the manufacture of precision parts, and potentially circuit boards, in small-scale production environments.

The images also show electronic boards or PCB raw materials preserved in anti-static bags, small battery packs, power connectors, and black circular mounts resembling tube or arm clamps, in addition to colored metal cylinders and mechanical parts whose exact function cannot be determined from the images alone.

According to specialized technical sources, such components could be used in the manufacture of structures, test benches, or control systems. However, direct inspection of serial numbers and technical specifications would be required to determine their precise nature and intended use.

In one of the images, a large green machine can be seen installed inside the boat. It is fitted with hoses, a hydraulic movement system, and Chinese-language markings, which corresponds with the Southern Giants Forces’ statement regarding the presence of a hydraulic drilling device in the shipment.

A Yamaha Enduro 75 outboard motor also appears on the boat. It is highly likely that this was the motor of the transporting boat itself rather than part of the seized shipment, as Yamaha lists this model among its 75-horsepower outboard boat motors.

The announcement carries additional significance because the seizure took place in Bab Al-Mandab, one of the world’s most sensitive maritime corridors, and because the Houthis have been associated in recent years with the use of drones and explosive-laden boats in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The recent Bab Al-Mandab operation comes as part of a series of operations carried out by Southern forces in recent years across land and sea routes extending from Al-Mahra and Hadramout in the east, through Aden and Lahj, and toward Ras Al-Ara and Bab Al-Mandab.

According to security statements, these operations have included the seizure of shipments bound for the Houthis, containing drone engines, communication devices, guidance components, marine radars, ammunition, anti-armor missiles, and advanced electronic and military equipment hidden inside boats, trucks, or commercial containers.