Yemen’s drone war: Rivals flex growing aerial muscle 

Sanaa, Yemen – After the Houthi armed group in Yemen launched attacks on government military camps and gatherings last week using one-way attack drones, it killed and injured dozens of government soldiers. But the internationally recognised Yemeni government was quick to retaliate by employing remotely operated drones to attack Houthi fighters on the front lines. That development is significant in Yemen’s decadelong conflict because it highlights the growing use of drones on the battlefield.

Government military units have repeatedly broadcast video footage showing drones tracking their targets, dropping bombs, killing fighters, destroying armoured vehicles and damaging hideouts.

“The government side is now acquiring a potentially important tactical capability of its own,” said Marius Bales, a doctoral researcher at the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies. “Reusable, remotely piloted drones may be particularly useful for the day-to-day battle along relatively static front lines, even if they cannot match the Houthis’ strategic strike range.”

Rueben Dass, associate research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told Al Jazeera that Yemeni government forces have publicised the use of drone-dropped munitions, which seem to be released from rotary-wing drones.

“These drones may have been modified to carry improvised payloads targeting Houthi positions on the ground, similar to use by state and nonstate actors in several other conflict zones,” Dass said.

In September 2014, the Iran-backed Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa, and, amid weak military resistance, pushed deeper into other parts of Yemen.

The Houthis’ dramatic rise to power left the government divided and fragile, and due to the threat from the rebels, many political leaders, including then-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, fled Yemen for safety abroad, notably to Saudi Arabia.

Houthis’ superior armoury

For years, the Houthis were able to use drones as one of their most important weapons of asymmetric warfare. They were able to monitor their opponents and strike their gatherings, command centres and facilities far from the lines of contact while government forces were mostly in a position of defence and interception.

However, forces affiliated with the government have announced in recent days the use of drones against Houthi positions in Marib, al-Jawf, Taiz, Hajjah, al-Dhalea and on other fronts and have released video of a number of those operations.

The Houthis have years of experience and a more advanced missile and drone infrastructure, but the government does not necessarily need full parity to bring about change on the battlefield.

Drones have been a fundamental weapon for both sides since the outbreak of this conflict. However, they have vastly different levels of drone capabilities, experts said.

“I would still regard the Houthis as having the more sophisticated drone capability overall,” Bales told Al Jazeera. “They have accumulated roughly a decade of operational experience and possess a much broader spectrum of systems.”

This arsenal ranges from relatively short-range attack drones operated through reusable systems to long-range, one-way unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) capable of striking targets far beyond Yemen.

Bales said the Yemeni group has benefitted from Iranian technological assistance in addition to their experience in modifying and operating these systems themselves.

“The established Houthi inventory has included systems such as the Qasef family and the much longer-range Sammad family as well as newer systems derived from Iranian designs,” he added.

Qasef drones were among the first unmanned aircraft added to the Houthi arsenal. They are similar to the Iranian-designed Ababil-T drones. These drones are capable of carrying 30kg (66lb) warheads used in one-way attacks.

The Sammad-3 drones have a range of about 1,500km (930 miles) and can be fitted with 18kg (40lb) of explosives, reports have shown.

Since their takeover of Sanaa, the Houthis have diversified their arsenal of unmanned aircraft and missiles. They have used a variety of drones, long-range ballistic rockets and kamikaze speedboats.

Bales said the Houthis seem to be adopting some of the tactical innovations seen in Ukraine.

“Recent information from the Marib front, for example, indicates the appearance of an FPV [first-person-view] drone using fibre-optic control while Yemeni authorities have also reported intercepting components intended for fibre-optic-controlled, one-way attack drones,” he said.

Adapting commercial drones

Last month, the Yemeni government’s Ministry of Defence unveiled drones for the first time as part of its military equipment. State television showed the defence minister, accompanied by military leaders, inspecting a number of drones.

However, officials did not disclose the types of drones, their ranges, or technical and operational capabilities.

Recently, government drones have conducted operations almost daily, and they are predominantly remotely operated and reusable.

“They [drones] can observe a target, attack it by dropping a munition and, if everything works as intended, return for another mission. Recent footage shows them being used against individual fighters, vehicles, trenches, fortified positions and mortar positions,” Bales said.

A Yemeni researcher who focuses on unmanned aircraft use in Yemen and asked not to be named, told Al Jazeera that government military experts have modified drones designed for civilian purposes for military operations.

“They have made aircraft capable of conducting reconnaissance, spotting targets and dropping munitions,” he said.

Another Ukraine?

While drones have become increasingly important on Yemen’s battlefields, their use remains limited compared with the war in Ukraine.

“The difference in scale is enormous. In Ukraine, drones have become an industrialised and ubiquitous component of warfare,” Bales said.

He said Yemen has not reached anything approaching that density or sophistication although some of the same dynamics are now appearing in Yemen.

“Yemen is beginning to display what we might call the Ukraine-isation of tactical drone warfare: Inexpensive UAVs become an ordinary weapon of small units rather than a specialist capability used occasionally.”

Houthis vulnerable to new drone warfare

Over recent weeks, the Yemeni government has restructured its military with a single decision-making centre, and regional messages suggested the option of militarily taking on the Houthis has not been shelved, as was once thought.

The anti-Houthi camp today comprises the national army under the Ministry of Defence in addition to new formations with independent commands, such as the Giants Brigades and the Guardians of the Republic forces in al-Makha, or Mocha, in the west.

These different groupings – all on the anti-Houthi side of the conflict – have emerged over the years due to the weakening power of the central government, the growth of independent figures and the backing of other countries in the region.

The Yemeni government’s drone use could pave the way for more advances, but that does not guarantee a definite win against the Houthis.

Yazeed al-Jeddawy, the research manager at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera that the government drone operations could improve the tactical balance if their current intensity and coordination are sustained.

He said many of the main government-aligned armed groups have released footage showing drones targeting Houthi fighters and positions.

“This suggests that drones are no longer a limited capability confined to a few units but have become a more widely distributed operational tool,” he said.

The government’s drone capabilities could also affect Houthi fighters’ morale by making their movements and positions more vulnerable to aerial surveillance and attack.

“For years, the Houthis held a clear advantage in using footage of their attacks to project military dominance and undermine the morale of their opponents.

“Government-aligned forces are now beginning to contest that space. The volume of footage conveys a message to Houthi fighters that their movements and positions are increasingly exposed across several fronts, even in the absence of a major ground offensive,” al-Jeddawy noted.

Houthi media outlets have reported that 84 Houthis were killed in about one week this month, including 28 field commanders.

“The drone campaign can make the front lines more costly for the Houthis, restrict their movement and gradually weaken their positions,” al-Jeddawy said.