News – Middle East: An American magazine revealed new information related to Yemen's Armed Forces targeting the Emirati and Saudi depths in January early this year.

The Tablet magazine said in a report that Yemen "On Jan. 17 of this year, launched a ballistic missile at an oil facility in the UAE near Al Dhafra Air Base, which hosts the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing of the United States Air Force."  Unmanned aerial vehicles (called UAVs or drones), which Yemeni Armed Forces launched simultaneously, managed to break through the defensive net, it added. This attack marked the first ever use of the THAAD system in combat.

The report pointed out that one week later, on Jan. 24, the THAAD batteries were back in action, countering two Yemeni-local-made missiles aimed directly at Al Dhafra, where approximately 2,000 American soldiers are stationed. On that day, the Yemeni Armed Forces also simultaneously launched two ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia. Key elements of these attacks remain shrouded in secrecy.

The combination of loitering munitions, ballistic, and cruise missiles that Yemeni Armed Forces launched at the UAE last January exemplifies the trend, the report added. Loitering munitions confuse sensors, especially at slower speeds, because they blend in with “ground clutter”—factors such as birds, tall buildings, and storms.

In addition, the magazine confirmed, swarms of loitering munitions, cheaper in unit costs, can easily saturate interceptor missiles. With their great maneuverability and low-altitude navigation skills, cruise missiles minimize their exposure to radar or avoid it altogether.

The report added that ballistic missiles come in hard and fast like a bullet, carrying large warheads capable of much heavier destruction. Each one of these weapons poses its own special challenge to the sensors and interceptors of a missile defense network. When all three are combined in significant numbers, they will stress any network to a breaking point.

More importantly, when combined in a large strike package, some of missiles and drones will inevitably break through America’s defensive shield. Even the most sophisticated defensive systems operating at peak performance cannot prevent at least some of weapons from hitting their targets.

But if 1 in 10 or even 1 in 20 missiles breaks through, it’s not long before “success” starts exacting a higher cost than most leaders care to pay.