Houthi Riyadh Airport Hit Shows Saudi Air Defenses Full Of Holes

Missiles like the Burkan, which is the short to medium range ballistic missile used against Riyadh, is somewhat easier to pick up since the missiles are liquid fueled and have to be prepared before launch, exposing them to overhead systems such as satellites.

Saudi Arabia's initiative setting up what is called the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement (also referred to as the Mecca Defence Alliance) with Pakistan and Turkey, locking out the United States and thwarting Washington's effort to extend the Abraham accords to the Kingdom, may have played a role in off-putting US interest in helping the Kingdom deal with the Houthis and Yemen.

One can add to this Washington's primary interest is in focusing on Iran and the Hormuz straits and conserving ammunition and smart weapons, helping orient Washington away from getting involved in the Yemen mess. Whether Washington now intervenes remains uncertain.

The Houthi strike was a saturation attack that featured either novel or improved technology that came from Iran, perhaps with assistance from Russia and China.

The suicide drone used by the Houthis was the Samad-3. The Samad-3 is an extended range Kamikaze drone powered by a 2 stroke twin-cylinder piston engine (commonly identified as a 3W110i B2 or DLE 170-class model) driving a rear-mounted pusher propeller.

During long-range operations (such as extended flights over 1,500 to 2,600 km), it typically travels at a slower average cruising speed of 148 to 185 km/h (80 to 100 knots, or about 92 to 115 mph) to conserve fuel.

Western experts do not think the Samad-3 is very accurate although the latest models have been improved with better low-jamming satellite links. In successive attacks at King Khalid Airport, between 30 and 40 Samads were used.

The Quds cruise missile is more lethal, carries a larger warhead, has sophisticated electronics, and is powered by a clone of the commercial Czech PBS TJ100 turbojet (frequently labeled as“Model T10S” in recovered wreckage).

The clone is manufactured in Iran. The Quds-2 employs satellite-assisted navigation (GPS/GNSS) and inertial navigation systems (INS). As a low-flying cruise missile, it can terrain-mask to bypass standard radar coverage and air defense systems. The fact that Quds cruise missiles successfully hit Terminals 3 and 4 indicates effective guidance and anti-jamming electronics.

On October 10th between 3 or 4 Burkan ballistic missiles were launched in combination with the Quds and Samad-3s. Before that, on October 8th and 9th, another 3 or 4 Burkan's were fired at the airport. Saudi authorities claim to have shot some of them down using Patriots, but a full accounting is not available. However, the major damage was not caused by the Burkan's, as far as we know.

The Burkan is a modernized ballistic missile. After the completion of the boost phase after launch, the missile warhead separates from the body of the missile. The warhead alone, traveling at high speed, is difficult to image on radar. The Burkan-2H and Burkan-3 feature a detachable, triconic (”baby bottle” shaped) warhead inherited from the Iranian Qiam-1 and Shahab-3 designs.

It does not possess active control surfaces (like grid fins or thrusters) on the separated warhead to execute evasive maneuvers or terminal guidance changes against interceptors like the MIM-104 Patriot. Even so, the missile body travels along the same trajectory as the warhead, creating discrimination and targeting problems for systems such as Patriot.

It is noteworthy that the damage done by the Houthis to the King Khalid International Airport is more or less equivalent to Iranian strikes on a number of US and Israeli bases, starting in 2020 with Iran's operation Martyr Soleimani hitting the Air al-Assad air base in Iraq. In January 2024 Iran launched attacks using its proxy the Islamic Resistance in Iraq on Tower 22 in Jordan.

On March 1, in Kuwait, Iran launched successful attacks on the Port of Shuaiba Operations Center. In July and August, Iran launched successful attacks on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base and King Hussein Air Base in Jordan.

King Hussein Air Base is a major operational and logistics hub for US Air Forces Central (USAFCENT) and allied coalition forces in the Middle East.