Military

What Capabilities Will US Face as It Enters Houthi Hornet's Nest?

The Houthis have struck back at US forces in the response to the Pentagon's large-scale strikes, targeting the USS Truman carrier task force with a missile and drone barrage. As fighting escalates, here are the offensive and defensive capabilities the US military will encounter.
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Drones

Yafa: large, aircraft-style UAV with 2,600 km range, 20-50 kg explosive payload and stealth capability.
Samad-3: Large UAV with 1,800 km range, 250 km/h top speed and 18 kg payload.
Samad-4: Variant with twin unguided bombs on underwing hard points. 2,000 km range, 50 kg payload.
Qasef-1 & Qasef-2K: Simple, low-cost kamikaze drones with 100+ km range and 30 kg payload.
Wa’aed: Loitering munition with Shahed 136-like features. 185 km/h top speed and 50 kg warhead.
Mirsad-1 & 2: Surveillance drones based on reverse-engineered Boeing RQ-21 Blackjack.
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Missiles

Palestine-2: two-stage, solid-fuel hypersonic missile. 2,150 km range, 500 kg payload, Mach 16 top speed and maneuvering capability.
Hatem-2: Hypersonic missile with 150-385 km range, Mach 5-8 top speed. Payload unknown.
Burkan: Mobile short-range missile series derived from Soviet Scud: 1,000 km range, 250 kg payload.
Karrar: Solid-fuel missile with 300 km range, 500 kg payload.
Quds-4: Cruise missile with 2,000 km range. Payload unknown.
Moheet: Guided anti-ship missile derived from inherited Soviet V-750: Characteristics unknown.
P-15 Termit: Soviet anti-ship missile. 40 km range, 454 kg warhead.
Asef-2: Anti-ship missile. 450 km range, 500 kg payload.
Mandab-2: Maritime cruise missile. 300 km range, 165 kg warhead.
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Air Defenses:

Dense integrated network, including inherited and upgraded 2K12 Kub/Kvadrat (‘Fater-1’), S-75 and S-125 SAMS, pickup truck-launched R-60s, Strela and Igla MANPADS, ZU-23 cannons, UHF, G/H band and altimeter radar.
Despite their age, these systems have proven potent enough to destroy over a dozen US Reaper drones, plus Blackhawk, Apache, F-15, F-16, Tornado and Typhoon aircraft jets of US allies through the course of the decade-old conflict in Yemen.
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