Pictured above: Iran’s Fattah-2 hypersonic missile. Although the Houthi claim to have developed the hypersonic missiles themselves, they undoubtedly received extensive Iranian assistance, and maybe even used a slightly modified Iranian missile. Either way the deployment of such weapons around the Red Sea could transform the situation there and maybe even lead to western military intervention in Yemen. Ed.<\/p>\n
Yemeni armed forces have successfully tested a hypersonic missile with high destructive capability, amid escalating tensions\u00a0over the targeting of Israel-linked shipping in the\u00a0Red Sea.<\/strong><\/p>\n The missile can reach speeds of up to Mach 8 (6,200 miles per hour) and is powered by solid fuel, an unnamed military source told Russia’s\u00a0Sputnik news agency on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cYemen plans to begin manufacturing it for use in attacks in the Red and Arabian Seas and the Gulf of Aden, as well as against targets in Israel,” the source added.<\/p>\n The source went on to say that following months of testing,\u00a0Yemeni forces have also upgraded their missiles and drones to carry warheads of twice the explosive power as what it had in its arsenal.<\/p>\n The latest development comes a week after Yemen\u2019s Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said new weapons were used in the recent operations in the Red Sea which surprised the American and the British, warning, “What comes next will be greater in every sense of the word.”<\/p>\n Yemen\u2019s Defense Minister\u00a0Major General Mohammad Nasser al-Atifi, also stated last week, “The Armed Forces have many cards they have not yet played.\u201d<\/p>\n Yemeni forces have launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Gulf of Aden in support of Palestinians.<\/p>\n They say the operations will continue unless\u00a0Israel stops its war on the besieged Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since early October.<\/p>\n The maritime attacks have forced some of the world\u2019s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world\u2019s\u00a0most important maritime trade routes.<\/p>\n Yemen\u2019s armed forces have also added US and British assets to their list of legitimate targets after the two countries began targeting Yemen from the air and sea\u00a0in early January in support of Israel\u2019s war on Gaza.<\/p>\n Source<\/a><\/p>\n Although Iran has obviously assisted Yemen in developing this missile, the Houthi are not using an exact replica of Iran\u2019s Fattah-2 hypersonic missile.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because Iran\u2019s latest hypersonic missile has a maximum speed of Mach 15, or 15 times the speed of sound<\/a>, while the Yemeni missile only managed to reach a speed of Mach 8.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, it is still a notable achievement. Especially when one considers that Yemen is one of the poorest and least developed nations on earth.<\/p>\n Moreover, Yemen\u2019s claimed successful test of a hypersonic weapon is made even more remarkable given that the US has yet to successfully test any such comparable weapon.<\/p>\n The deployment of hypersonic weapons in and around the Red Sea could spell a whole new chapter in the West\u2019s face-off with Iran. That\u2019s because Western navies don\u2019t have the weapons to effectively counter hypersonic missiles.<\/p>\nCommentary \u2013 March 14, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n