Skip to main content

YEMENI HOUTHIS TURNED SOVIET AIR-TO-AIR MISSILES INTO GROUND-TO-AIR MISSILES TO COMBAT SAUDI-LED COALITION WARPLANES

Colonel Turki al-Maliki, a spokesmen for the Saudi-led coalition, revealed during a press conference how the Houthis managed to turn Soviet-made R-27T and R-73E air-to-air missiles into ground-to-air missiles.
Yemeni Houthis Turned Soviet Air-To-Air Missiles Into Ground-To-Air Missiles To Combat Saudi-led Coalition Warplanes
Click to see the full-size image
The Houthis likely got the R-27T and R-73E missiles from airbases of the Yemeni Air Force, which they captured during 2015. The Yemeni Air Force used to operate these types of air-to-air missiles and others like the R-27R on its Mig-29SMTs.
The R-73E has a range of 30km, while the R-27T has a range of up to 70km. The Houthis likely chose these missiles because the both types are guided by infrared homing, and has the “fire and forget” feature. Other types of air-to-air missiles like the Soviet-made R-27R are guided by semi-active radar homing, which make them harder to turn into ground-to-air missiles, because this type of guidance system requires support from a separate guidance radar detecting the target for the missile.
Yemeni Houthis Turned Soviet Air-To-Air Missiles Into Ground-To-Air Missiles To Combat Saudi-led Coalition Warplanes
Click to see the full-size image
In order to launch R-27T and R-73E from the ground, the Houthis installed missiles and their launch rails on trucks. The missiles seekers were supplied with electricity from a separate generator because the missiles batteries last for few minutes only.
Yemeni Houthis Turned Soviet Air-To-Air Missiles Into Ground-To-Air Missiles To Combat Saudi-led Coalition Warplanes
Click to see the full-size image
However, the Houthis don’t add a rocket booster to the missiles to increase their range. Air-to-air missiles lose at least a half of their range when they are launched from the ground because they are originally designed to be launched from warplanes on high altitudes.
During the 1999 NATO operation in Serbia, the Serbian Army also modified R-60 and R-73 air-to-air missiles to launch them from the ground against NATO warplanes. However, unlike the Houthis the Serbs solved the range problem by adding rocket boosters to the missiles, which acted as a first stage and gave the missiles a longer range even though they were launched from a static armored vehicle.
Yemeni Houthis Turned Soviet Air-To-Air Missiles Into Ground-To-Air Missiles To Combat Saudi-led Coalition Warplanes
Click to see the full-size image
While the Serbian Army had never shot down any NATO warplane with its modified air-to-air missiles, the Houthis likely managed to shot down a United Sates MQ-9 Reaper unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) over the Yemeni capital of Saana using their modified air-to-air missiles on October 10.
These modified air to air missiles were also likely used to target an F-16 warplane of the UAE Air Force over the Yemeni capital of Sana’a on June 8, and a F-15 of the Royal Saudi Air Force On May 21. However, both warplanes were not shot down.
The Saudi-led coalition accused Iran of helping the Houthis to modify these air-to air-missiles. However, experts believe that such modification can be made by any well-trained military engineers who worked with these types of missiles before.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re...
Post a Comment
Read more

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has ...
Post a Comment
Read more

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, sp...
1 comment
Read more