PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 14th, 2026: Houthis Target Saudi Air Base & Russia’s Drone Evolution

It's Monday, the 14th of September. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, from your eyes and ears on the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed. First up, our focus is on the Red Sea, where the Iranian-backed Houthis continue to aggressively target the Saudi Kingdom. This time, claiming a massive missile and drone attack on a major Saudi airbase. Later in the show, we'll look at how Russia is turning cheap drones into increasingly capable weapons faster than Ukraine and the West can adapt. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. This morning, we told you that the Houthis had seized a foothold inside the Babelman Deb Street, putting the Iran-backed militia in a much stronger position to threaten Saudi shipping through the Red Sea. Well, less than 24 hours later, the situation has escalated again. The Houthis now say they launched dozens of missiles and drones at one of Saudi Arabia's most important military installations. According to the militia, the attack targeted King Khalid Airbase in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The Houthis claim they went after aircraft hangars, radar installations, ammunition depots, and other military facilities located at the base. Now, the Saudi Arabia has not confirmed that King Khalid Airbase was struck, but emergency alerts were activated Sunday in the surrounding area, and several other cities across southern Saudi Arabia, as the Houthi attack was underway. And net gums as their offensive along Yemen's Red Sea coast continues to gain ground. As noted in the morning PDB, Houthi fighters had captured Payrim Island in the Babelman Deb waterway, and were advancing toward the Hanish Islands farther north. They have now reportedly gained control of those islands. The Houthis have seized both greater and lesser Hanish, extending their control over another strategically important section of the Red Sea. Taken together, those gains give the militia positions along the Yemeni coast, inside Babelman Deb, and farther north, along one of the world's busiest maritime corridors. And their advance is also bringing them closer to the U.S. military presence across the Red Sea in Djibouti. But perhaps the most consequential development for Saudi Arabia is what we're now learning about the kingdom's damaged oil infrastructure. Last week, drones launched from southern Iraq, struck Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline. That pipeline had become especially important because it allows the Saudis to move crude from the Persian Gulf side of the country to terminals on the Red Sea bypassing the troubled state of Hormuz. With Iran already disrupting traffic through Hormuz, the pipeline had become Riyadh's primary alternative route. Houthi attacks over the past few days had forced Saudi Arabia to shut the pipeline down. Now we're learning that the damage may be far more serious than initially understood. Officials say repairs could take between three and five weeks. Before the attack, the pipeline had reportedly been moving around four million barrels of oil per day, and that's roughly four percent of global oil supply moving through a single piece of infrastructure that could now remain largely offline for weeks. So Saudi Arabia is facing pressure from virtually every direction. To the east, Iran continues to threaten shipping through the strait of Hormuz. Across the kingdom, its backup pipeline has been knocked out by drones launched from an area of a rock dominated by Iran-backed armed groups. And to the west, the Houthis are capturing islands along the Red Sea while launching missiles and drones at Saudi military targets. Riyadh has so far avoided a major military response. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had asked President Trump for direct American military action against the Houthis. The president reportedly declined, although Washington has continued providing intelligence and targeting assistance. But the question now is how long Saudi Arabia can maintain that restraint if the attacks keep coming. Iran and its allies are putting increasing pressure on Saudi Arabia's military, its oil infrastructure, and both of the maritime routes that it relies on to reach the outside world. At some point, the Saudis will be forced to respond and to reengage in a conflict with the Houthis that they've been trying to avoid for a few years now. Coming up next, we'll examine Russia's growing advantage in the weapons race where inexpensive drones are evolving into one of the major threats to Ukraine. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here, with an important message about planning for your future. Now, I know it's not a conversation that folks like to have, but it is important to be organized and to protect your family for when you're gone. The reality is, planning for the future should not be a burden. Whether you're documenting guardians for your kids or mapping out asset distribution, trust and will is an easy platform that does it all. Trust and will offers affordable attorney designed estate plans online that you can create in as little as 30 minutes. You need a professional second opinion, maybe? Well, no problem. Attorney support is available as an add-on to ensure that every detail is perfect. Plus, with bank level encryption and thousands of five-star reviews on trust pilot, you can rest easy knowing that your data is secure. Easily update your plan and share access with trusted contacts to remove the stress from your loved ones. Trust and will, affordable estate plans, priceless peace of mind. Go to trustandwill.com/PDB and get 20% off that's trustandwill.com/PDB to get your 20% off. Once again, trustandwill.com/PDB. Hey, Mike Baker here with a pro tip from managing your personal finances and investments. Now, have you ever found yourself sitting with your laptop late at night, staring at investment information, tax advice, or googling to find out what exactly our Roth conversion is? Look, you work too hard to be trying to figure out complex investment decisions on your own. Maybe you do have a financial advisor, but maybe they only show up once a year, right? Usually because you call them. Meet ARCAWELF, that's ARCAWELF, one advisor for all your complex finances. ARCA tracks investing dates, tax deadlines, scenarios for retirement, or a business exit, maybe that you might be planning. ARCA's on it. Before you ask, it's proactive advice because great service anticipates it doesn't react. Right now, the president's daily brief listeners can book a complimentary financial planning call with an ARCA advisor at ARCAWELF.com/PDB. That's ARCA once again, ARCA-CA, just like it sounds, ARCAWELF.com/PDB. Every ARCAWELF advisor is a fiduciary, legally and ethically bound to act in your best interest. ARCAWELF is fee only, so what you pay is transparent. For important disclosures, please visit ARCAWELF.com. This segment is a paid promotion for ARCAWELF full disclosure. I'm not a client, and the PDB has an incentive to endorse ARCAWELF. Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin. Throughout the war in Ukraine, I've talked about how quickly both sides adapt their weapons to the battlefield. But now, Moscow is moving considerably faster, turning inexpensive weapons into a major problem for Ukraine and its allies. New reporting from the Wall Street Journal gives us a closer look at how the Kremlin is pulling this off. One of the best examples is Russia's Giron family of attack drones. They began as versions of Iran's Shehaed drones, the relatively slow, propeller-driven weapons, Moscow's launched by the thousands against Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. Early in the war, they were a serious problem, but eventually, Kiev got better at stopping them. Ukraine poured resources into interceptor drones and electronic warfare, specifically designed to hunt down the slower Shehaed drones. So, well, Moscow adapted. Russian engineers steadily made the Giron's faster and harder to disrupt, upgrading their navigation and communications, while making them more resistant to Ukrainian electronic warfare. And that brings us to the Giron 5 model. This latest version of the drone uses a jet engine, and looks considerably more like a missile than the Shehaed's that Russia started the war with. The head of drone sec is a company that tracks drone threats, described it as essentially a quote, poor man's cruise missile. And that's a pretty good way to understand what Russia is doing here. Moscow is getting much of the speed and capability of a cruise missile, without paying anything close to cruise missile prices. A Giron 5 is estimated to cost around $100,000 for context, and American Tomahawk missile costs more than $2 million. And Russia isn't stopping with the Giron. Moscow has also developed the Bondirol, that's a relatively inexpensive cruise missile, estimated to cost around $100,000. And a crucial part of how Moscow is managing to adapt the weapons technology is down to China. According to Ukrainian assessments and military analysts examining wreckage, Russia is relying heavily on Chinese-made jet engines, navigation computers, and communications electronics. Ukraine and others say that that violates international sanctions. Well, I'm sure the Chinese government and Putin were completely unaware that they've been violating international sanctions. I'm sure that once they find out, they'll start to comply. The caveat here is that much of the Chinese equipment is considered dual use. Now the various components can have legitimate civilian applications, but can also be adapted for military use. And Moscow has become particularly good at exploiting that vulnerability. The journal reports that they've used off the shelf for dual use technology to build antennas resistant to electronic countermeasures and communications networks capable of functioning. through Ukrainian jamming. But getting the technology is only part of Russia's advantage. Once Moscow finds a design that works, it moves quickly. Russian engineers develop a weapon, tested in combat, modify it based on what happens against Ukrainian defenses, and then they move successful designs into large-scale production. That's where Ukraine struggles to keep up. Kiev has proven that it can innovate quickly. In fact, Ukraine developed one of the first effective jet-powered drones of the war. What Kiev doesn't have is Russia's industrial capacity, or the same ability to pour resources into production while planning years into the future. And Russia has maintained that advantage, even as Ukrainian strikes increasingly target its wartime economy. Putin has reoriented much of that economy around his war, of course, pouring government money in, state-backed financing into defense production, on a scale that NATO democracies haven't attempted since World War II. Putin has turned Russia's economy into a wartime economy, full stop, which, as an aside, while that works during wartime, but it will create significant problems when, or if, Putin decides to end, his military adventurism. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its allies are still struggling with a different problem. Washington, that its allies, have struggled to increase production of critical weapons, like Patriot Interceptors, and to move new military technology into mass production quickly enough. Western defense companies are already scrambling to develop new interceptors. NATO members have pledged more than $40 billion over five years toward counter-drone capabilities. But Ukraine's experience does offer a warning, because the threat that NATO is preparing for is not limited to the war in Ukraine. But Russia learns on the battlefield does not stay on the battlefield, it spreads well beyond. Moscow shares their military technology and battlefield lessons with Iran and North Korea to some degree China, potentially spreading those innovations to other U.S. adversaries. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday, the 14th of September. Now if you have any questions or comments and I do hope you do, just reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com, and of course to listen to the show Add Free, that's very, very doable. Just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. Now I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, do you ever feel like navigating the world of AI is a whole second job, right? One model writes copy, another handles research and a third manages code, trying to finish a single project, often ends up being more about managing tools and actually working, constantly bouncing between five different interfaces, just to get one task done, well that can be exhausting. That's why perplexity computer is changing the game. Instead of juggling fragmented models, perplexity computer acts as the ultimate orchestrator. It's seamlessly integrates leading AI models, automatically choosing the perfect one for every step of the project. Simply dictate what needs to be done, whether it's standardizing market data or drafting a full presentation or automating email follow-ups, and watch the project get built. It connects directly to work tools like Gmail and Slack, handling the heavy lifting, so the focus remains on strategy, not tool management. For a limited time only, our PDB listeners can try perplexity computer for free. Head on over to pplx.ai/pdb, once again that's pplx.ai/pdb to try it today. Most AI tools, well, they're still answering questions, while perplexity computer is completing full projects.