Saudi Arabia spent $83.2 billion on its military last year, the world’s eighth-largest defence budget. Yet Houthi missiles and drones keep hitting Riyadh’s airport and Saudi oil sites. Brent crude is over $100 — and India is paying for it.
Updated: October 13, 2026, 10:30 IST
Quick Read
- Saudi Arabia’s military spending hit $83.2 billion in 2025, about 6.5% of its GDP — the 8th largest in the world, according to SIPRI.
- Despite F-15 jets, Patriot and THAAD defences, Houthi missiles struck Riyadh’s airport, killing 13 and injuring over 300, and targeted Aramco oil sites.
- For India, the damage lands at the fuel pump: Brent crude is above $100, freight and insurance costs are soaring, and 2.7 million Indians work in Saudi Arabia.
One side spends $83.2 billion a year on its army. The other funds its war with about $4.5 billion. And the smaller side keeps landing missiles on Riyadh. It’s the question everyone is asking: why Saudi Arabia can’t defeat the Houthis — and why India’s oil bill keeps rising because of it.
It matters to India because every drone that hits a Saudi oil site pushes crude up — and India imports most of its oil.
What $83 billion buys
Start with what Saudi Arabia has. According to SIPRI data compiled by MilitarySpend.org, the kingdom spent $83.2 billion on defence in 2025 — up 1.4%, about 6.5% of GDP, the eighth-biggest military budget on Earth.
On paper, the shopping list is impressive. Saudi Arabia flies F-15 fighter jets and Eurofighter Typhoons. It operates American Patriot batteries and THAAD missile-defence systems. It has around 257,000 active troops plus 130,000 in the National Guard, per News24 figures.
The kingdom is also the world’s second-largest arms importer, per SIPRI.
Against that, the Houthis have no air force. Their war money comes from about $2.5 billion in taxes they collect in the parts of Yemen they control, roughly $2 billion in oil sales, per Al Jazeera.
Why the missiles still get through
So why did a Houthi strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport kill 13 people and wound more than 300 last Saturday, with another attack the next day killing one more person and injuring about a dozen? The airport is shut until October 17, per Live Mint.
Three reasons keep coming up, and none of them is about money.
First, size. Saudi Arabia covers about 2.2 million square kilometres. “Even a layered system combining Patriot, THAAD, fighter aircraft and other sensors cannot create an impermeable dome over a country the size of Saudi Arabia,” Andreas Krieg of the MENA Analytica risk firm told AFP. The kingdom has to defend Riyadh, airports, oil plants, military bases and the holy cities — all at once, all the time.
Second, the Houthis attack smart. They mix slow drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles in one wave. Different speeds, different flight paths, all arriving together. That’s hard to track and hard to stop. Nawaf Obaid, a senior fellow at King’s College London’s War Studies department, told Al Jazeera that “dozens of Houthi attempts are thwarted for each successful attack” — the ones that get through are the ones you hear about.
Third, Saudi interceptors are running short. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the kingdom is running low on the interceptor missiles it needs to defend against these attacks, and is shifting its batteries around the country to protect both energy infrastructure and royal palaces.
Also read: Houthi Attacks Kill Indian in Riyadh; 2 Missing Near Hormuz
Who the Houthis really are
It helps to stop thinking of the Houthis as a small militia. A 2024 UN report estimated they had recruited up to 350,000 fighters — up from 30,000 in 2015, per Middle East Eye. That’s more than Saudi Arabia’s active-duty army.
And these are not parade-ground soldiers. As Thomas Juneau, a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa, told the Associated Press, the Houthis are battle-hardened troops who have fought the US, Israel and Saudi-backed forces. Juneau’s blunt point: beating them for good would need ground troops, and Riyadh won’t commit to a full-scale ground war.
Their weapons have grown too. Iran supplies designs and parts, and the Houthis now build many weapons at home from commercial parts with Iranian technical help, according to Le Monde. They claim a Palestine-2 ballistic missile that can fly about 2,000 km. Analysts argue about the exact range, but Riyadh is clearly within reach.
One honest gap: the size of the Houthi missile stockpile is genuinely unknown — one analyst says it could be anywhere from one missile to 100.
What this costs India
Here’s where it hits home. Brent crude rose about 2% on Monday to $106.76 a barrel — its highest since September 29 — after fresh Houthi strikes on Saudi targets, Reuters reported. Earlier the same day it had dipped to around $103 on news of a US-Russia diesel deal, which shows how jumpy the market is.
India buys the vast majority of its crude from abroad, so every dollar on the Brent price adds to the import bill. Three extra costs are piling on.
One, direct supply hits. Saudi Aramco has reportedly told Indian refiners it will suspend crude supplies until further notice after Houthi drones hit the kingdom’s key East-West pipeline — Saudi Arabia’s main backup route for moving oil when the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted, the Times of India reported.
Two, freight and insurance. With the Bab el-Mandeb strait choked by Houthi attacks on shipping, tankers are taking the long way around Africa — 15 to 29 extra days. Supertanker daily charter rates have soared to between $642,000 and $1.3 million, and war-risk insurance jumped from under 1% to 3-7% of a ship’s value, according to the Daily Maverick. That adds roughly $23 to $33 per barrel just to move the oil.
Three, the strange silver lining. Saudi Aramco cut its November prices for Asian buyers to the biggest discount in six years — $5 a barrel below the Oman and Dubai averages — partly to make up for the freight pain, Reuters data showed. India, as Asia’s biggest buyer, gets some of that relief.
Then there’s the human side. India’s Ministry of External Affairs says 27,47,551 Indian nationals live in Saudi Arabia, plus over 3,000 people of Indian origin. The Indian embassy in Riyadh has told them to stay indoors and stay alert after the airport attacks, Times Now reported. One Indian has already died in the Riyadh strikes.
Also read: Rupee Near All-Time Low: Why It Is Falling
What happens next
Saudi Arabia is not short of options, but none of them is easy. The kingdom has reportedly asked Washington for help — News24 reports Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Donald Trump twice to ask for US air strikes on Houthi positions, and was turned down, though Trump agreed to share intelligence and targeting support.
F. Gregory Gause of the Middle East Institute told Business Standard what may be the only real exit: “The only realistic solution for the Saudis is an end to the Iranian-American war, in which the US gets the Iranians to commit the Houthis to an end of hostilities as part of the overall deal.”
One fact most people miss: India spends more on its military than Saudi Arabia — $92.1 billion last year, the world’s fifth-largest, per SIPRI. Money buys jets and missiles. It doesn’t buy a dome over a huge country.
FAQs
How much does Saudi Arabia spend on its military?
About $83.2 billion in 2025, according to SIPRI — the world’s eighth-largest defence budget and roughly 6.5% of Saudi GDP. For comparison, India spent $92.1 billion, the fifth-largest.
Why can’t Patriot and THAAD stop Houthi drones and missiles?
Saudi Arabia is too big to shield completely — about 2.2 million sq km of airports, oil plants and cities to defend. The Houthis also mix slow drones with fast ballistic missiles in one attack, which confuses air defences, and Saudi interceptor stocks are reportedly running low.
How do Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia affect petrol prices in India?
India imports most of its crude. Attacks push up Brent prices and shipping costs, and can cut direct Saudi supply to Indian refiners. Aramco’s Asia discount partly offsets this, but India’s import bill still rises.
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