From 6 am to 6:30 am local time on May 14, Saudi Aramco’s pumping stations 8 and 9 were attacked by drones, and the company was forced to temporarily close the east-west pipelines. The Yanbu Port that was attacked this time was even more than 700 kilometers away from the Houthi armed forces’ control area, and the ASEF-1 small drones currently in the hands of the Houthi are simply not enough to support such a distance. Voyage. The only explanation is that the attack was caused by a Houthi-armed drone attack squad that penetrated the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia and carried out a long-distance attack.
Affected by this incident, international oil prices rose sharply during the intraday session, and the intraday increase once exceeded 1.5%.
In March of this year, the Houthi UAV has publicly reached an important strategic goal in southern Saudi Arabia: Suqa Phase 2 of independent desalination and power plants. Compared with the last reconnaissance operation on Suqa Plant 2, the attack on Yanbu is even more shocking, which is too far away from Yemen. Yanbu is located in the central area of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. The closest distance to Yemen is more than 800 kilometers. The range of small drones in the hands of Husseis is not that far. For such a long-distance flight, at least a medium-sized drone of the level of Rainbow 3 is required. The flying distance has exceeded the direct communication distance between air and ground. Satellite relay communication equipment is required to ensure the communication between the drone and the ground station. Because of the Houthi armed forces’ equipment level and organizational capabilities, the take-off point for this attack cannot be in Yemen. Either take off from the sea, or secretly infiltrate and take off near Yanbu. Obviously the former is the least difficult to implement.
The seven UAVs used in the attack were QASEF-1 suicide UAVs in the hands of Hu Sai. The pictures and information of the aircraft that Hu Sai has shown to the outside world are based on Iran’s Ababil-2 UAV. The maximum flight distance can reach 150 kilometers, the length is 2.5 meters, and the wingspan is 3 meters. Small fishing boats can carry it. . It is very likely that the fishing boat controlled by Husai sailed concealedly to the sea off Yanbu Port. The 150-kilometer voyage can ensure that the ship is on the high seas. The total weight of the warhead carried by the 7 QASEF-1s is 210 kg, which is enough. Two carefully selected pumping stations caused serious damage.
This shows the touching degree of the combat power of the Saudi “Royal Army”. First of all, the borders of their homes were infiltrated by the armed men of the other side without even knowing it, and they were allowed to run hundreds of kilometers in their own territory. What’s more, Iran’s aid to the Houthi armed forces has been significantly reduced after the sanctions. This can be said to be a wave of high-profile UAV counterattacks by the Houthi armed forces against Saudi Arabia under desperate conditions. Saudi Arabia, whose annual military expenditure is as high as 67.6 billion U.S. dollars, has nothing to do with it!
It’s time to consider using drone jammer to counter drone.