The Houthis unveiled on August 24 two air-defense systems, which have been secretly in service with their air-defense units since 2017.
In a televised conference, Brig. Gen. Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the Houthis, said that the two systems, dubbed the Fatir-1 and the Thaqib-1, were used against many warplanes and drones of the Saudi-led coalition and even the U.S. military.
Fatir-1:
The Fatir-1 missile was identified as a modified copy of the semi-active radar (SAR) guided 9M336, the standard armament of the well-known Soviet SA-6 “Gainful” air-defense system.
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The SA-6 system has a range of 25km and engagement altitude of up to 8km. The Houthis likely obtained the system from the stockpiles of the former Yemeni Air Defense Force.
Brig. Gen. Sari said that the Fatir-1 system was successfully used to shot down at least two MQ-9 Reaper unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) of the U.S. military. The first one was shot down over the coastal Yemeni city of al-Hudaydah last June, while the second was downed over the city of Dhamar a few days ago only.
The U.S. Central Command (CENCOM) revealed in an offical statement that a SA-6 system was used to down the MQ-9 UCAV near al-Hudaydah last June.
Thaqib-1:
Unlike the Fatir-1, the Houthis didn’t release any photos of the Thaqib-1 air-defense system.
Brig. Gen. Sari said that the Thaqip-1 was “locally-developed.” However, he declined to provide any details saying that further information on the system will be revealed later.
The Houthis are known for operating modified air-to-air missiles, such as Soviet-made, infrared-guided R-27T and R-73E. Thaqip-1 could be a codename for one of these modified missiles.
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The Houthis’ growing air-defense capabilities:
According to Brig. Gen. Sari, the Houthis air-defense force has launched 166 anti-aircraft missiles since 2017.
72 missiles targeted drones of the Saudi-led coalition and the U.S. military, 45 targeted warplanes of the coalition and 49 were launched against Saudi and UAE AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
“The air-defense [force] plans to deploy defensive systems in all Yemeni regions,” the spokesman said stressing that the Houthis will continue to develop their air-defense capabilities until they are able to counter any aerial threat.
In the framework of these efforts, a third and fourth air-defense systems were “developed” by the Houthis, according to the spokesman, who said that they will be revealed soon.
Brig. Gen. Sari concluded his conference by promising that the next year will be “the air-defense year” in Yemen.
Happy Air Defense Year!
Indeed! God bless each and everyone! Except those rats flying those Saudi aircraft. May they meet a speedy end soon.
amen
FUCK YEAH! Thats what we all waited for so long!! (True) Freedom fighters with air defense rockets. We all know that strategy worked well already one time in Afghanistan. Now bring the US and Saudis their Afghanistan of the 80s! Best Houti statement so far. This will bring shivers down the spine RIGHT NOW in Saudi and US military and intelligence circles! And that threat alone will maybe be a major point to stip the scale in policians deciding to end support for the war. As soon as expensive equipment and pilots drop like flys, it hurts much much more than some dead Somali mercs on Toyota trucks. Beautiful!
BETTER YET Bring on another Vietnam for US!
bravo bravo bravo
death to america death to Israel curse on the jews
AL MOTR AMREEKA! AL MOTRA ISRAEL! AL LANAT AL YAHUD! AL NASR ISLAM!
Obviously you don’t speak Arabic ;) you sparkled few additional Rs
no i dont, but you get the idea
I bet this will keep journo killer MBS awake a couple of nights.
I’m impressed with the Houthis they along with Hezbollah punch well above their weight I’m starting to to think they may be getting some sort of covert support from other countries we don’t know about possibly even western countries or maybe I’m just been hopeful
Eastern Europe and Asia. These relationships have been developed over decades. They don’t break just because US wants them to play with US monopoly money
And you haven’t seen squat yet…lmfao. israel is a ship in the ocean without power. Ready to sink
soon houthis will develop S-400 variant and stealth warplanes :))))
10 inches long versions
try 10 meter long
Mashallah brothers, keep on cleaning the Wahhabi scum of the Earth.
Does it mean that they had been able to develop garage-made rocket engine? If not they would run out of engine or materials right? I just wish they would get knowledge on how to enrich uranium and put it on the tip of missiles…. Boom, end of Al Saud & Al Zionist scums.
Absolutely no need for that… Saudi Arabia is a melting pot waiting to implode from within. it’s only a matter of when or maybe when the oil hits $10 per barrel.
and when clown prince mohammad bin salman has been shortened a foot by his siblings and cousins the houthis can join up with the turks and iranians and surians and hezbollah to finish off the squatters on the occupied palestine and, given the support the squatters have given the clown prince, they have a just and fair grievance and are thus motivated to help finish off the squatters.
looks like the price of poker just went up. Bravo! little by little the net tightens. the murikans are showing their impotence. the net gets tighter. the sow-dees are already backing up. the golems in ghettoland are starting to panic. the genie is out of the box.