On June 21, the Saudi-led coalition showcased remains of the projectile the Houthis used in the recent attack on Abha International Airport. The remains, which were inspected by U.S. envoy on Iran, Brian Hook, proved that the projectile was a cruise missile.
Saudi newspaper Sabq released photos showing remains of the missile’s fins and fuselage. The characteristics of the fuselage and the fins appear to be similar to that of the Soviet Kh-55 cruise missile.
Click to see full-size image. Source: sabq.org
Click to see full-size image. Source: sabq.org
One of the photos shows the remains of the missile’s engine, which was identified as the TJ-100. The turbojet engine, that’s is produced by Czech’s PBS Velká Bíteš, is not used in any known missile.
Click to see full-size image. Source: sabq.org
While the cruise missile was designed after the Kh-55, it remains unclear if it was indeed developed and manufactured by the Houthis themselves.
In 2017, the Houthis launched what is suspected to be an Iranian Soumar cruise missile, a copy of the Kh-55, at the Barakah nuclear power plant in the UAE. This may explain how the Yemeni group and its backers got familiar with the missile’s design.
Iranian Soumar missile, a copy of Kh-55. Click to see full-size image.
The Houthis’ new mysterious cruise missile proved to be effective when it hit the arrival terminal in Abha International Airport on June 12 with high-accuracy. The same type of cruise missiles was likely used in the June 19 attack on the al-Shuqaiq Water Desalination and Power Plant in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
What did the cowardly genocidal Saudis expect? Flowers.
For security reasons Iran officials should not allow any foreign country’s officials in Iran for next five years.They may be officials from UK, France, Germany, America etc. Saudi Arabia massacres civilians in Yemen with US and UK assistance.
Thank you for the article, Mr. Jubair.
Aside from the usual nonsense about the “suspected” origin of the missile and parroting the Saudi lie about the target of it, can you imagine the kind of weight a Kh-55 carries as a warhead? We all seen the Saudi provided footage from the airport, the explosion looks like a hand grenade and not a cruise missile. I find it hard to believe that Yemenis used a cruise missile capable of flying ~1500km for a 150km distance and at the same time, reduced it’s warhead to a mere firecracker, It’s usually the other way around, when you use a powerful missile for a short distance, it’s because you increased the amount of explosives in the warhead. If you plan to fire a missile at a target further that it’s range, you reduce the explosives to increase the range.
Yemenis proved to be ingenious in using what scraps they have and turning it into scary weapons to defend themselves.They even used FLIR cameras as some sort of passive guidance system to hit aerial targets using AAMs, fired from the ground. Must be somebody else’s work, right?
Dammit I’m ranting again!
I wish you and all your people well in these worrying times, Garga.
I was heartened to listen to the presidents of China and Russia saying that they will not allow Iran to be destroyed. With the backing of two powerful nuclear powers that support Iran, the US and UK may think first.
All’s fair and love and war, but really weddings and funerals? There will be a price to pay for all the mayhem we have delivered. Far as I can tell their main sin is they have oil and the Saudi’s need more.
The Saudis have been pumping oil like there is no tomorrow for over half a century. They haven’t discovered any new fields, except for the ones in Yemen, but their oil reserves have not gone down at all. I think Obama did the deal with Iran, to try and seduce them into the petrodollar scam, before the Saudi production starts to slow.
Does matter what type of weapon or what was used as long as targets were hit and destroyed.