Illustrative image, source: the Houthis media wing
On May 22, the Houthis (as Ansar Allah is known) announced that their air-defense forces had shot down a combat drone of the Saudi-led coalition, the second in less than a week.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Yemeni group said that the drone, a Chinese-made CH-4, was shot down over al-Maraziq in the northern Yemeni province of al-Jawf. According to the spokesman, the drone was targeted with a “new ground-to-air missile” that has not been unveiled yet.
“We reiterate that the airspace of our country [Yemen] is not a cakewalk,” the spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Sari, said in the statement.
Three days earlier, the Houthis shot down a Wing Loong II combat drone of the Saudi-led coalition over the Yemeni border with the Kingdom’s southern province of Najran. Back then, the group also said that the drone was targeted with a “new ground-to-air missile”.
The CH-4, developed by China’s CASC, has a range of up to 5000 km and an endurance of 40 hours. The drone is equipped with an advanced targeting system and can be armed with a variety of guided missiles and bombs.
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Since 2018, the Houthis have shot down eight CH-4 combat drones of the Saudi-led coalition. The Yemeni group have been tirelessly working to develop its air-defense capabilities.
