“Our air defenses managed to confront a combat formation consisting of a number of enemy warplanes over the airspace of Hazm district of Jawf, using the Fater-1 surface-to-air missile defense system, forcing them to leave without carrying out any attack,” Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a message on Twitter late on Friday.
Over the past few days, Yemeni air defense systems have responded to several attempted air raids by coalition warplanes over Yemeni airspace, particularly over the Sana’a, Marib and Al-Jawf provinces, using the Fater-1 system, according to the Yemen Press Agency.
The Fater-1 is a domestically manufactured long-range surface-to-air missile, which was unveiled in August of last year along with the Thaqib-1. Although it was first used in 2017 against coalition air forces. It has intercepted coalition warplanes on several occasions, most recently on March 26 over the Sirwah district of the Marib province, which is currently under the control of the Yemeni forces as they advance towards the city.
The Fater-1 is described as being modelled on the 3M9 missiles used with the 2K12 surface-to-air system, which was originally developed by the Soviet Union and had been in the Yemeni military arsenal prior to the five-year-old aggression against the country.
Tens of thousands of Yemenis have died since the beginning of the war that Saudi Arabia and its allies launched in 2015 to restore power to Yemen’s former Riyadh-allied officials. The aggression has also brought entire Yemen to the edge of famine.