US airstrikes continue on Yemen for the 38th day and night in a row, with between 20-25 airstrikes reported in Hodeidah Governorate during the daytime. During the night, multiple rounds of airstrikes with multiple airstrikes each were reported in the Ma'rib and Sana'a Governorates, along with Kamaran Island
The Yemeni Armed Forces released another statement yesterday, about launching drones at Israel and targeting the two sets of US Navy warships:
The use of a Sammad-1 drone is interesting, the Yaffa drone is a variant of the Sammad-3, an upgrade to the Sammad-1 with a vastly longer range. So I don't know why they'd use a Sammad-1, which only has a 500km range and is usually used for surveillance, and not one way attack.
Two of these cruise missiles launched at US warships likely crashed within Yemen itself, one in Al Mahwit Governorate, videos and phots of the debris suggest a failed Quds series cruise missile launch. Another missile crashed in the capital city Sana'a, and media was banned from the crash site in the hours after the initial media frenzy (so no photos or videos of missile parts for identification purposes), which is why the reporting of "a US airstrike targeting a market in Sana'a yesterday" has died down on resistance channels, there's a high possibility this was an Ansarallah missile that misfired. Two potential failed cruise missile launches (with one confirmed) on one night is a bit odd.
The US Navy is continuing to suppress Yemeni radars and SAM sites, along with a potential new tactic to take out Yemeni anti air loitering munitions like Missile-358 (which have likely taken out many MQ-9 Reaper drones). An EA-18G Growler launching off of the USS Harry Truman is equipped with a heavy/"beast mode" (yes, that's what the Marines and Navy actually call a fully laden aircraft) SEAD/DEAD loadout, with 4 AGM-88E anti radiation missiles (two on each wing's outboard stations, visible in the first picture), 2 AIM-120 AMRAAM air to air missiles (visible in the second picture, near the centreline of the aircraft inboard of the drop tanks), and three 1817 litre/480 gallon fuel drop tanks (one on the centreline, and one on each wing). I'm guessing that that the AIM-120s will be used to shoot directly at the airborne loitering munitions themselves from a safe distance. So the plan to counter these air to air loitering munitions like Missile-358, is just to shoot them out of the sky with radar guided air to air missiles from EA-18Gs.
I tell myself I bear witness, but the real answer is that it's obviously my programming.
I've been doing these write ups for 38 days now, yeah...
The Yemeni front is very insightful to watch because it's almost a precursor to other fronts, before the now dead ceasefire in Gaza, the Yemenis started winding down operations first. There are also a number of technological firsts in warfare. First anti ship ballistic missile ever used in war was by Ansarallah. Their anti air loitering munitions, and ground based infrared search and track systems, pose a serious challenge to UCAVs like the MQ-9 and are extremely difficult to suppress under current SEAD doctrine. The solution now is just to try shoot them out of the sky.
ground based infrared search and track systems
Is there anywhere to read more about this? I've been thinking about how possible this it would be to create these using current optical technology coupled with the latest computer networking and pattern recognition capabilities.
They already exist and most major militaries have both ground and air based (on fighter jets) infrared search and track. Main limitation is that the atmosphere and weather can attenuate infrared, and that it's a camera system, so range is limited by those factors compared to radar. It's also why it's more common on aircraft (air is thinner and colder at altitude). This also means tracking lots of targets, especially at longer ranges, is complex if only infrared is used. A laser rangefinder is usually added to the system to obtain distance data, and engagement range is usually around two thirds of detection range.
As for infrared systems likely in use in Yemen, there's the Iranian Sepehr-14 fire control system, designed to link up with the Iranian Raad air defence system that can fire Sayyad 2C surface to air missiles. The Raad firing Sayyad 2C missiles is a capabilitiy that Ansarallah likely already have, given intercepted shipments of Sayyad 2C missiles to Yemen. You can see the camera array here.
These posts are very useful since I'm developing a game inspired by the Yemeni resistance. Amazing work as usual