An oil loading terminal was attacked by ballistic missiles and drones on March 7 in Rastanula, east of Saudi Arabia. Statement on the crime of using a total of 22 ballistic missiles and 14 drones by the Yemeni armed group Husi In addition, the interception by the Saudi army did not cause significant damage.
For ballistic missiles, Patriot surface-to-air missiles were intercepted successfully, and for drones, FMUI 15 fighters intercepted successfully, and video of the shooting down captured by infrared images was made public.
A total of 25 aircraft, including 7 cruise missiles and 18 drones, were attacked on 14 September 2019 on the Saudi Aramco oil facility of the State oil company in Abkek and Fries, Saudi Arabia, resulting in huge losses. At this time, when Iran, which supported the Husi faction, launched a circuitous flight through the interior of Iraq, it was unable to deal with the surprise attack from an unexpected direction. (at that time, the Saudi army was wary of Yemen and Iran across the sea from the Persian Gulf.)
[related] the attack on Saudi oil facilities was a new Iranian-made cruise missile and the first confirmed new suicide drone (September 19, 2019)
In response, in a large-scale attack on eastern Ratanura on March 7 this year, the Saudi army released a video of several drones shot down by Fmur15 fighter jets, which can be seen as vigilance from the air. In addition, a video of shooting down drones invading southern Saudi Arabia was released on March 2, showing off the aerial invitations of fighter jets to the invading drones. For ballistic missiles, Patriot surface-to-air missiles have been achieving interception results.
Because cruise missiles and drones fly at low altitude, if they are a little far away from the ground radar, they will hide in the shadows of the horizon and cannot be captured. Therefore, in order to monitor and defend the wide area, early warning and interception from the air are essential. The basic approach is to combine early warning aircraft and fighter planes to look down from high altitude to detect and intercept targets.
The Saudi army has strengthened its air defense against cruise missiles and drones from its defeat two years ago to war-based training. However, the maintenance of frequent aerial vigilance over the country with early warning aircraft and fighter jets requires a lot of labor and budget. If early warning planes and fighters are constantly released at dense density during wartime, there will be no chance to be aimed at breathlessly at any time.
This is the sixth year since Saudi Arabia formally intervened in the civil war in Yemen in 2015. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia itself continues to be threatened by ballistic and cruise missiles supplied by Iran, as well as drones by Husi in Yemen.