- Vigil category device · not official insignia
Identity provenance
Vigil category device — drawn from this record’s own domain, echelon and role. Not an official insignia.
In brief
The Combined Maritime Forces' Red Sea task force, created in 2022 — the coalition structure on the sea that carries Saudi Arabia's alternative to Hormuz, and the one whose water the Houthi blockade of July 2026 contested.
- Scope
- Structure, role, lineage and links. No subordinate records published.
- Subordination
- Subordination confirmed
- Sources
- 2 on the record
- Record state
- Partial
- Broad area of activity
- The Red Sea from Suez to the Gulf of Aden
- Notable history
- Task Force 153 was stood up in April 2022 to give the coalition a dedicated Red Sea structure, and it was overtaken within two years by a threat its mandate did not contemplate: the Houthi campaign against shipping from late 2023. The United States answered it with Operation Prosperity Guardian, announced on 18 December 2023 under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of this task force, and the European Union separately with Aspides; a structure built against illicit maritime activity was thereby made the frame for defending shipping from a movement firing anti-ship missiles. The Houthi blockade of Saudi ports declared at Bab el-Mandeb in July 2026 contested the task force's water for the second time. That gap between the standing structure and the actual threat is the record's point.
- Strengths
- A standing coalition presence on the sea that has become the outlet of the Gulf's principal Hormuz alternative.
- Limitations
- A mandate that stops where the Red Sea's real problem begins, and a membership that has preferred other frameworks when the threat became a state-like actor. No vessels, contributions or operations are recorded.
Lineage & institutional history
Related locations
Bab el-Mandeb: The southern end of the task force's area; no operation is described.
Campaigns
Campaigns naming this organisation as a participant. The campaign record owns the relationship and grades it; this list is computed.
- The Houthi campaign against Red Sea shipping, 2023–2025 Opposing force · November 2023 – October 2025 · high confidence · as of 2023-12
Operation Prosperity Guardian was announced on 18 December 2023 under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of Task Force 153, by the US Secretary of Defense's statement. Defensive: it escorted and defended shipping and did not strike Yemen.
Quick actions
System access
Where this record connects into the rest of Vigil. Each row is here because this organisation actually reaches it.
Assessed as of — 2026-09 Last reviewed — 2026-09-09
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