Drones ‘Made in Iran’ in Yemen War

Since the start of the war in Yemen, Houthi forces, known as Ansarallah (Zaydi Shiites), have utilized complex operations against their opponents who are allied with Saudi Arabia.

Throughout this war, Iran has repeatedly been accused of providing financial and military assistance to the Houthis, and each time has denied these allegations.

In October 2016, Reuters reported that Iran, through Oman, had managed to increase its weapons shipments to Yemen’s Houthis. These shipments included small arms and various types of missiles.

American officials in Washington had expressed concern, but Oman’s foreign minister dismissed the report as inaccurate.

In the Reuters report, it was stated that some Western officials also had doubts about whether the Houthis could actually receive significant quantities of weapons from Iran.

Nevertheless, in recent months of military operations, the Houthis’ name has been on everyone’s lips due to two unprecedented incidents: first, a Houthi missile attack on a ship belonging to the United Arab Emirates in the strategic maritime Red Sea region; and second, a missile attack attempt against an American naval vessel.

Although the Houthis have continuously used Scud missiles and surface-to-surface rockets against Saudi Arabia, the two aforementioned cases require a higher level of missile capability that represents a significant difference from their previous use of Scud missiles.

A week ago, at the end of March, the publication of a video report from research conducted on the transfer of Iranian technology to Yemen largely solved the Yemen missile puzzle. According to this new report, between October 2016 and March 2017, the Conflict Armament Research Center examined seven remotely piloted aircraft (drones) and one drone engine that were discovered. These equipment are currently in the possession of the Presidential Guard of the United Arab Emirates, and apparently the UAE Presidential Guard seized these equipment in Marib Province, Yemen.

These drones were transported overland from Oman into Yemen. Additionally, one of the drones exploded and crashed near Aden International Airport, and a faulty drone engine was also recovered following a Houthi attack in Marib Province.

On February 26, 2017, Houthi forces displayed four drones and announced that they themselves were the manufacturers of these drones. One of the systems displayed, called the Qassef-1, is exactly similar to what was studied by the Conflict Armament Research Center.

Research by this center concludes that the Houthis are not themselves manufacturers of the Qassef-1, but rather Qassef-1 is a type of Ababil-2 that is produced by the Iranian Aircraft Manufacturing Company. The drone displayed by the Houthis is similar but significantly smaller than the Ababil-2 model and has precise similarities with the details of Ababil-T (an attack variant of the Ababil family). Qassef-1 is not only identical to Ababil-T in terms of construction and design details, but the serial numbers of both begin with identical digits.

According to this center, on November 27, the discovery and seizure of six Qassef-1 drones in transit from Oman to Yemen (via conventional smuggling routes into Yemen) demonstrates that Qassef-1 is not Yemeni-made but rather has been imported from Iran.

United Arab Emirates forces claim that Yemeni Houthis, known as Ansarallah, and allies of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, using Qassef-1 drones, can target the MIM-104 missiles of the Saudi-led coalition forces, which is a surface-to-air missile system. This is done through drone detonation upon impact with the missiles, or radar systems (particularly rotating radar systems) using GPS.

While coalition forces use Patriot missiles to neutralize missile threats, the destruction of the Patriot radar system enables the Houthis to target and destroy military depots of coalition forces without encountering defensive systems.

The use of drones by the Houthis and forces allied with Ali Abdullah Saleh demonstrates that they can inflict considerable damage on coalition forces allied with Saudi Arabia even with minimal costs and the use of inexpensive technology.

The research center’s report concludes that the discovery of these drones is evidence that there is a direct relationship between the weapons obtained by Houthi groups and allies of Ali Abdullah Saleh and Iran’s national weapons reserves, and therefore Iran’s support, contrary to what is claimed, is not limited to moral support but also includes weapons support alongside it, enabling the Houthis to participate in asymmetric military operations. No formal response has yet been given from Iran regarding this report.

Source: Radio Farda