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WASHINGTON — Iran has developed a new type of antiaircraft missile and shipped it to Houthi rebels in Yemen, Pentagon officials announced Wednesday. The weapons, which the officials referred to as 358 missiles, were seized by U.S. Navy warships in two separate shipments in the Arabian Sea.
In a news briefing, Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, declined to comment on how the missiles worked. But a military official familiar with the captured weapons described them as cruise missiles designed to avoid U.S. defensive measures that were also capable of downing American military helicopters, as well as the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey.
The 358 missiles consist of three parts: two motors and an explosive warhead. The weapon can be assembled after shipment and fired from a crude launcher on the ground. Once the missile is fired and traveling fast enough, a solid-fuel boost motor falls away and a cruise motor takes over; at that point the weapon flies in a figure-eight pattern and looks for targets.
Three of the so-called 358 missiles were captured on Nov. 25 by the U.S.S. Forrest Sherman, a Navy destroyer, and five more were recovered on Feb. 9 in an operation by the U.S.S. Normandy, a Navy cruiser. Those shipments also included more than 170 anti-tank guided missiles made in Iran, as well as 13,000 blasting caps, which are critical components in making modern roadside bombs.
Captain Urban said the United States believes that Iran has been supplying weapons to the Houthis rebels for the last five years, and that such shipments are prolonging the war in Yemen.
The Houthis have displayed increasing resiliency on the battlefield against Saudi and coalition forces throughout the civil war in Yemen. Experts partly attribute the group’s success at holding territory to the advanced weapons the Iranians have sent them.
In September, Houthi fighters claimed credit for a drone attack on an oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia. Components of the Iranian cruise missiles blamed for the attack were also recovered by the U.S.S. Forrest Sherman on Nov. 25.
The weapons captured by the U.S. Navy were found on small motorboats called dhows. According to Captain Urban, the mariners aboard the two dhows were questioned and then turned over to the Yemeni Coast Guard.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/us/iran-missiles-yemen.html
In a news briefing, Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, declined to comment on how the missiles worked. But a military official familiar with the captured weapons described them as cruise missiles designed to avoid U.S. defensive measures that were also capable of downing American military helicopters, as well as the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey.
The 358 missiles consist of three parts: two motors and an explosive warhead. The weapon can be assembled after shipment and fired from a crude launcher on the ground. Once the missile is fired and traveling fast enough, a solid-fuel boost motor falls away and a cruise motor takes over; at that point the weapon flies in a figure-eight pattern and looks for targets.
Three of the so-called 358 missiles were captured on Nov. 25 by the U.S.S. Forrest Sherman, a Navy destroyer, and five more were recovered on Feb. 9 in an operation by the U.S.S. Normandy, a Navy cruiser. Those shipments also included more than 170 anti-tank guided missiles made in Iran, as well as 13,000 blasting caps, which are critical components in making modern roadside bombs.
Captain Urban said the United States believes that Iran has been supplying weapons to the Houthis rebels for the last five years, and that such shipments are prolonging the war in Yemen.
The Houthis have displayed increasing resiliency on the battlefield against Saudi and coalition forces throughout the civil war in Yemen. Experts partly attribute the group’s success at holding territory to the advanced weapons the Iranians have sent them.
In September, Houthi fighters claimed credit for a drone attack on an oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia. Components of the Iranian cruise missiles blamed for the attack were also recovered by the U.S.S. Forrest Sherman on Nov. 25.
The weapons captured by the U.S. Navy were found on small motorboats called dhows. According to Captain Urban, the mariners aboard the two dhows were questioned and then turned over to the Yemeni Coast Guard.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/us/iran-missiles-yemen.html