Of the Houthis’ known air defense capabilities, and one of the few that U.S. officials have confirmed to be in active combat use, a curious Iranian-supplied design, it has received the most public scrutiny. Most commonly referred to simply as the “358” and now sometimes as the SA-67, and powered by a small turbojet, this surface-to-air missile is generally described as a “loitering” design, though its exact capabilities remain unclear. Typical surface-to-air missiles use solid-fuel rocket motors for propulsion.

The 358, which the Yemeni militants also call the Saqr-1, first emerged publicly after the U.S. Navy seized components for the weapons after boarding a small vessel bound for Yemen in the Arabian Sea in 2019. Now confirmed to be in service with the Houthis, 358s have also been recovered from Iranian-backed proxies in Iraq and Lebanon.

The roughly nine-foot-long 358 has three sets of fins for maneuvering and stabilization in flight, one at the nose end, one at the tail end, and one along the middle of the missile’s cylindrical body.

The design shares various components, including a satellite navigation-assisted inertial navigation system guidance package, vertical gyroscope, and air data unit, with multiple kamikaze drone types that are in Iranian and Houthi inventories.

“The weapon flies in a figure-eight pattern and looks for targets,” The New York Times reported in 2020, citing unnamed U.S. military officials. “A dozen infrared lenses arranged in a ring around the missile are believed to be able to defeat heat-seeking countermeasures that coalition helicopters typically use.”

As TWZ subsequently wrote about this unusual anti-air weapon:

“However, it is not immediately clear how such a conclusion was made [by The New York Times‘ sources] or how such a setup would overcome countermeasures. If the two rows of sensors are redundant, but work on different wavelengths, this could help reduce the impact of one countermeasure type over another. It’s also possible that one row is made up of infrared sensors as part of the guidance systems and the other are laser proximity fuze sensors, like those on many traditional SAMs and air-to-air missiles. One other possibility is that the ‘collar’ array, or at least one row of those sensors, works to detect a potential target initially and then cues the primary sensor in the nose onto that target to discriminate it and execute an attack if warranted.”

“It is, of course, very possible that multiple versions of the 358 could exist now, including ones that leverage some form of passive homing and/or that can receive updates from offboard sensors. At least one known example, seen above, has a particularly prominent antenna on the back, which could provide for some level of basic semi-autonomous control.”

“Altogether, the viability of this concept remains an open question. The low speed of the missile already means it is not useful for engaging fast-moving combat jets in many scenarios and is better suited for attempting to intercept slower targets like helicopters and drones.”

…

“Still, the underlying concept behind the 358 missile is very intriguing. If the weapon works as described, they could be launched into forward areas where drones or helicopters are known or expected to travel through, and hunt and kill them without any need for additional advanced offboard sensors. This could be particularly useful for engaging incoming drones, which can be very hard to spot and engage with traditional air defense systems.”

“Beyond all this, groups of 358s flying figure-eight orbits would just present additional hazards an opponent would have to contend with or attempt to plan around, which could be problematic seeing that they can fly out to remote locations. If the 358 is low cost, then it could be even easier to deploy large numbers of them at once to increase the probability of success and otherwise try to disrupt enemy air operations.”

In 2023, the Houthis did unveil a Saqr-2 missile, which lacks the tail fins found on the Saqr-1/358. How else the Saqr-2 differs from its predecessor is not known, but observers have noted that it looks as if it might be slightly shorter overall. A smaller design could allow for more compact launchers and otherwise make the missile easier to handle.

Iran has also now developed a larger and more capable “359” based on the general form and function of the 358 design, which is claimed to have a maximum range of (150 kilometers), be able to reach a top speed of (1,000 kilometers per hour), and be able to get up to an altitude of 30,000 feet. The 359, which is not yet known to be in Houthi service, can reportedly be recovered via parachute and reused if it does not prosecute an intercept. The parachute recovery feature on the 359 could possibly allow for its use in a secondary surveillance and reconnaissance role, as well.

https://www.twz.com/news-features/what-air-defenses-do-the-houthis-in-yemen-actually-have

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5838849&forum_id=2",#49698787)