Yemen’s Houthi militia has now downed over a quarter billion dollars’ worth of General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers. Sputnik asked a leading regional affairs observer what will happen if the humbling trend continues.
The latest Reaper shootdown took place last Saturday while the drone was carrying out intelligence-gathering activities over Marib province in central Yemen, according to the Houthis. The US military initially refused to confirm the loss, holding out until Friday, when an anonymous DoD official told US state media that an Air Force MQ-9 had been “struck but then landed safely and was recovered by US partner forces on September 9” somewhere in the Middle East.
The Pentagon did not elaborate on where exactly the drone touched down, who recovered it or what shape it was in.
The damaged Reaper is at least the eighth $32 million-apiece US reconnaissance and strike UAV downed by the Houthis since last November.
On August 4, the Houthis blew a Reaper out of the sky over Saada, northwestern Yemen. An informed source told Sputnik the militia used a modernized Soviet 2K12 Kub air defense system to do. The Houthis are known to have adopted the Kub to fire Yemeni-made Fater-1 interceptor missiles.
On May 29, the Houthis destroyed an unmarked Reaper, possibly belonging to the CIA, over Marib, releasing footage of warriors wearing sandals standing on top of the downed drone......More Below
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday the upcoming start of ground strikes against drug cartel targets in Latin America.
He made the remarks during Christmas greetings to the military.
Trump said the United States was "now going after the land" in its fight against drug cartel targets, noting that drug trafficking by sea was down 96 percent.
The U.S. president also extended special congratulations to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, currently deployed in the Caribbean.
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China has begun operating the world's first intelligent ultra-large oil tanker powered by methanol, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Monday.
The tanker, designed to transport crude oil, was successfully put into operation in the city of Dalian in China's northeastern coastal province of Liaoning, the report said. State-owned company Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd independently designed and built the vessel, it added.
The tanker is approximately 333 meters (1,092 feet) long and can carry around 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, the CCTV reported. Designed to produce low emissions and having intelligent control capabilities, the tanker will serve the route to the Middle East, among others, according to the report.
The vessel is powered by a dual-fuel methanol engine, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 92% compared to conventional fuel, the CCTV reported. It is equipped with an intelligent ship platform, an intelligent liquid cargo ...
A car bomb has killed a senior General Staff member, officials have confirmed
Source: The Investigative Committee
A Russian general has been killed in a car bomb blast in Moscow, the Investigative Committee has reported.
Officials identified the victim as Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of operational training at the General Staff. According to the statement, an explosive device had been planted beneath the vehicle he was traveling in, and detonated on Monday morning in the southern part of the Russian capital.
The blast also damaged several other vehicles and seriously injured Sarvarov’s driver, media reports stated.
Russian officials said one line of investigation is an assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services, noting that Kiev has previously used explosive devices in targeted killings of officials and public figures.
Last December, a bomb hidden in an e-scooter killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense ...
