Houthi Rebels Claim To Have Shot Down Another American MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Over Yemen
On May 29, the air defense arm of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement claimed to have shot down another MQ-9 Reaper drone, presumed to belong to the US Air Force. The attack, which was carried out in response to Israel’s ongoing operations in the Gaza Strip, came after another aircraft of the same type was shot down in Al-Bayda Governorate airspace a few days earlier.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed that the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle was detected while conducting ‘hostile missions’ in Yemen’s Marib Governorate airspace, and that the targeting operation was carried out using a locally produced surface-to-air missile. Saree also promised that Yemen will continue to improve its defense capabilities against ‘American-British aggression’ and all hostile forces fighting against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, saying, “This UAV is the sixth of its kind to be shot down in support and aid of the Palestinian people during the Promised Victory and Holy Jihad.”
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) issued no official statement to confirm or deny the allegations made by the Houthi rebels, also known as the Ansarullah movement. However, according to a US defense official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, “the US Air Force has not lost any aircraft operating within the US Central Command’s area of responsibility.”
Furthermore, images shared on social media show that the wreckage of the MQ-9 Reaper drone has no obvious impact damage and is generally intact. This also raises the possibility that the MQ-9 Reaper was not shot down, as claimed by the Houthi rebels, but rather made a hard landing in the desert due to a technical malfunction or operator error.
In any case, the fact that a relatively intact MQ-9 Reaper wreckage has fallen into the hands of the Houthis poses a significant risk to the United States and its allies. The main risk is that the system will fall into the hands of Iran, which has been providing various forms of assistance to the Houthis in Yemen’s civil war since 2015. It is believed that the Houthis, who have previously shot down five MQ-9 Reapers, transferred as much debris as they could to Tehran. According to claims, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and defense organizations affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Defense developed the ‘Mohajer -10’, ‘Kaman-22’, and ‘Shaded-149 Gaza’ unmanned aerial vehicles based on the MQ-9 Reaper through reverse engineering.