The ongoing war in the Middle East is allowing the use of “High Tech” weapons in actual combat, and recently the Houthi Rebels were able to successfully attack Saudi Arabia’s Oil Processing Facilities using Drones and disabling nearly half of Saudi Arabia’s Oil output. The Houthis claim that they used a total of 10 drones for the attack.
I initially thought these Drones were like aircraft armed with missiles similar to the U.S.’ Predator Drones, but upon reading the descriptions of them from other articles, it turns out that they are actually more like Cruise Missiles, meaning they are programmed to travel to a target like an aircraft and then attack it like a Kamikaze aircraft.
Cruise Missiles have been around for a long time, but the difference now is they can be made easily, cheaply and produced in larger numbers. One of the Houthis’ Drones/Cruise Missiles for example, the UAV-X, reportedly has a range of 1,500 km and its guidance system seems to be via Global Positioning System (GPS).
The Saudis do have the MIM-104 Patriot Surface to Air Missiles (SAM), but reports are that the Houthis are attacking their radars also, rendering the system blind when they are damaged or destroyed. So truly we are now in the Age of Drones.
REFERENCES:
* Major Saudi Arabia Oil Facilities hit by Houthi Drone strikes
* Bomb-Laden Drones of Yemen Rebels threaten Arabian Peninsula
I initially thought these Drones were like aircraft armed with missiles similar to the U.S.’ Predator Drones, but upon reading the descriptions of them from other articles, it turns out that they are actually more like Cruise Missiles, meaning they are programmed to travel to a target like an aircraft and then attack it like a Kamikaze aircraft.
Cruise Missiles have been around for a long time, but the difference now is they can be made easily, cheaply and produced in larger numbers. One of the Houthis’ Drones/Cruise Missiles for example, the UAV-X, reportedly has a range of 1,500 km and its guidance system seems to be via Global Positioning System (GPS).
The Saudis do have the MIM-104 Patriot Surface to Air Missiles (SAM), but reports are that the Houthis are attacking their radars also, rendering the system blind when they are damaged or destroyed. So truly we are now in the Age of Drones.
REFERENCES:
* Major Saudi Arabia Oil Facilities hit by Houthi Drone strikes
* Bomb-Laden Drones of Yemen Rebels threaten Arabian Peninsula
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