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What Air Defenses Do the Houthis in Yemen Have?
The loss of nearly 20 MQ-9 Reapers, increasing use of standoff munitions, and the deployment of B-2 bombers point to the Houthis' air defenses being a real problem.
Houthi-controlled media via Oryx When the Houthis unseated the internationally recognized government of Yemen in 2014, the group also seized a variety of purpose-built Soviet-era surface-to-air missile systems, including fixed-site S-75 (SA-2 Guideline) and tracked 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful), both of which are radar-guided designs, and man-portable Strela (SA-7) heat-seeking types. “Drawing from satellite-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast systems and other passive tracking options, Iranian-supplied VRRs could help the Houthis monitor, decode, and display accurate geolocation, altitude, roll/track angle, heading, speed, nationality, and call sign of all coalition aircraft within a radius of over 250 km [155 miles]. It is worth noting here that drones like the Predator XP and Reaper were originally designed for medium-altitude operations (MQ-9’s typically flying at between 25,000 and 30,000 feet based on publicly available information) in permissive airspace, and they are not generally fitted with threat warning sensors by default.
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