Saudi aircrafts hit by missiles

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15 years 9 months

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Janes' has confirmed that a Saudi F-15 was recently hit by a missile:


A Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-15 multirole fighter was “intercepted” by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) while flying over northern Yemen on 21 March, but managed to complete its mission, Colonel Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said later that day.

http://www.janes.com/article/78774/saudi-arabia-says-f-15-survived-sam-hit-over-yemen

AFAIK the F-15SA have the "common missile warning system"; however this is also being installed on the older F-15S, presumably with most a/c finalized by now(?):

http://www.deagel.com/news/Saudi-F-15S-Fighter-Jets-to-Get-Digital-Electronic-Warfare-and-Common-Missile-Warning-Systems_n000010217.aspx

In addition the Saudis also fly Typhoon, which has DASS with integrated MAWs that should trigger flares.

Why don't they use Typhoon's, F-15SA and upgraded F-15S exclusively in Yemen, given the risk of SAMs? Or perhaps the pilot forgot to turn on the system?

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however this is also being installed on the older F-15S, presumably with most a/c finalized by now(?):

The S to SA (SR) upgrades are running behind schedule due to the aircraft being needed for combat duties. For schedule of actual conversions follow USDOD contract awards to ASA (Al-Salam Aircraft Co). The Aircraft that are being modified and retrofitted by Boeing are being done in the United States and there are mixed deliveries of SAs and S(Rs) being delivered.

https://militaryedge.org/articles/al-salam-aircraft-awarded-32-5-million-service-saudi-f-15s/

Why don't they use Typhoon's, F-15SA and upgraded F-15S exclusively in Yemen, given the risk of SAMs? Or perhaps the pilot forgot to turn on the system?

They are probably using them as and when required but are likely also using older types. The risk of SAM would still be moderate here given what they are using, the envelope and accuracy in terms of targeting ( I believe they are using FLIR sensors). But yeah, it does stress the importance of having these systems on a modern battlefield even one which has a relatively low tech AD presence.

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Not the first F-15 the Houthis have tagged.

A number of other Saudi coalition jets have gone down in the region, just usually without the spectacular footage.

The ground operation has been characterized by Houthi ambushes and attacks on seemingly unaware Saudi columns over and over again, it is possible the same careless attitude is in place in their AF.

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Not the first F-15 the Houthis have tagged.

A number of other Saudi coalition jets have gone down in the region, just usually without the spectacular footage.

There was this one: https://theaviationist.com/2018/01/09/yemens-shiite-houthis-claim-saudi-f-15-kill-with-sam-over-capital-city-of-sanaa/

Seems flares were released but were inefficient(?).

There was also some that were claimed to be technical issues not downed by missiles AFAIK.

Is there a list of a/c that have been downed in this conflict?

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I don't have a list of aircraft but the first one that happened a couple of months back, like this one, also did not result in the aircraft being downed. I also remember some talk of the video being manipulated but I cannot recall where I read that. Besides these two incidences, there has been no other report of their F-15's coming close to a hit as far as I can recall. I believe the US has lost a predator or a reaper in the region and other aircraft have gone down as well. However, relative to most air-campaigns this is pretty benign if one goes by what the WSJ reported vis-a-vis Saudi claims on the number of sorties (in excess of 140,000) that they have flown in Yemen over the last few years.

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Yes, some of the claims are technical issues, but I am not sure about the reliability of the Saudi Coalition's statements, see their claim re. this F-15 incident. That sortie # seems a little high to me, but I could be wrong.

Re, losses, take a look at this excellent site:

http://lostarmour.info/yemen/#statistic

Mostly focuses on armor losses in Ukraine, but has a good updated section about Yemen as well. Only lists confirmed crashes though, based on video footage.

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Doesn't it seems that there was no detonation?

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24 years 2 months

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Janes' has confirmed that a Saudi F-15 was recently hit by a missile:

Well, they say "hit" in the key points, but the article actually says "intercepted" and that the F-15 was able to deal with it. So who knows. The video could be doctored.

There was this one: https://theaviationist.com/2018/01/0...city-of-sanaa/
Seems flares were released but were inefficient(?).

Releasing flares might not work if you hit the afterburners and keep on flying in a straight line.

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If you are curious, the pictures of the damage to first F-15 hit are over at F-16.net courtesy of a poster “basher”.

Tough birds, those F-15’s. Nice if the RSAF applied some intelligent tactics when operating in a hostile airspace. Rule one, don’t deploy flares and hit ‘burners at same time, an evasive turn might help too. (Ha, just read Eagle’s post. Yes, what he said)

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Here's the video (alleged).