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All you need to know about the UAE’s missile defense and Houthi attack propaganda
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews... militia’s claim of targeting of the United Arab Emirates’ Barakah nuclear power plant represents a major shift in the Death Eater group’s propaganda in the Yemen  ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...war. The statement issued on Sunday claimed that a ’winged’ cruise missile targeted the power plant located 600 kilometers south of Abu Dhabi. While the Houthi militia utilizes Iranian weapons, the fact is that since 2015 cruise missiles have only been used in anti-ship operations near the strait of Bab el-Mandeb. Of all Gulf nations, the UAE stands with one of the world’s most advanced missile defense systems that has been in development since the turn of the century. Experts speaking to Al Arabiya English agreed that the UAE, which presents a valuable target for state and non-state actors, has shored up its air defense against multiple threats ranging from ballistic missiles to unmanned aerial vehicles. Former UAE air force and air defense commander (retired) Major General Khaled Abdullah Al Bu Ainnain, earlier said at a missile defense conference that the UAE is thoroughly equipped to defend itself from short and long-range missiles threats. The UAE defends itself in what experts call a three-tier system created to defend against low, medium and high altitude threats. "Three tier air defense systems are often made up of low level subsonic defense against cruise missiles and manned or unmanned aircraft approaching at low altitudes," said Matthew Hedges, researcher at Durham University and Advisor to Washington based think tank, Gulf States Analytics. "The second tier is for medium to high level missile threats that defends against tactical ballistic missiles and aircraft and finally high altitude threats defend against exoatmospheric engagements from intercontinental ballistic missiles," Hedges said. According to Anthony Cordesman, the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at Center for Strategic and International Studies, the UAE posseses the Russian Pantsir-S1 system, which was designed with an all-weather system that is capable of tracking and engaging aircraft, helicopters and UAVs. For medium to high altitude threats, the UAE operates nine PATRIOT system batteries distributed alongside major population centers and critical infrastructure sites. In addition to the UAE batteries, the US has deployed another two. In 2016, the UAE deployed the two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems which give it the capability to conduct engagements above atmospheric levels targeting intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Posted by: Fred 2017-12-04 |
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