Houthi armed forces use a large number of small drones to attack enemy targets on the battlefield in Yemen

China News Service, September 29 (Reporter Diao Wei) On the recent battlefield in Yemen, the Houthi armed forces have launched a large number of small rotary-wing drones, including first-view drones (FPV), to detect the enemy's situation and attack the opponent's personnel and equipment, and achieved a series of results.

The Russian "Military Review" website stated that the Houthi armed forces are quickly mastering new combat methods, and it can be seen that their drone pilots are well-trained and have considerable control experience.

A U.S. think tank research report stated that the "bombers" of the Houthi armed forces are mostly commercial four-rotor and six-rotor commercial drones that can carry six bombs and fly up to 30 kilometers.

According to "India Today", the Houthi armed forces changed the 60mm high-explosive mortar shells into free-fall bombs, mounted and dropped them on drones, specifically to deal with unshielded and stationary enemy tanks in the wild.

The US "Defense Blog" website stated that in late August, on the front line of Marib Province controlled by the Yemeni government forces, the Houthi armed forces launched a small drone and launched an initiation attack on a US-made M1A2S. The tank subsequently exploded and was engulfed in flames.

On September 26, the armed forces dispatched multiple drones to fly to the southern front lines of Yemen, using bomb-dropping air strikes to accurately hit the US-made M60A1 tanks, machine gun pickups and artillery positions of the Yemeni government forces.

The video shows that the height of the former bombs is generally more than 100 meters, and some bombs even fall for as long as 8 seconds. Using physical formulas, it can be seen that the distance is more than 300 meters, so that the focal length of the lens is magnified dozens of times, and the viewer can barely see the ground target clearly.

Special observer Wang Liyu told China News Service that dropping bombs to explode tanks from a height of 300 meters tests the pilot's basic skills such as eyesight and hand speed.

On the one hand, the pilot must rely on simple sighting equipment to quickly search and lock on the target, and then rely on experience to estimate and correct data deviations, and aim with the naked eye at the weakly protected turret top armor of the tank.

On the other hand, pilots must overcome the disturbances of wind, airflow, and sand and dust, and ensure the stability of the drone's posture through precise micro-control, otherwise they may "miss the point of thousands of miles."

According to a British defense think tank, the Houthi armed forces are also equipped with fiber-optic drones with stronger anti-interference capabilities, and the "technical source" of the latter is actually the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield thousands of kilometers away.

Wang Liyu said that there are signs that new drone technologies and tactics, represented by FPV offensive and defensive confrontation, are spreading from Europe to the world. This trend, which may rewrite the rules of traditional land warfare, deserves attention.