According to the Saudi Ministry of Energy, on the evening of the 7th local time, the port of Ras Tanura in eastern Saudi Arabia was attacked by drones from the sea. Yemeni Houthi militants claimed to launch attacks on oil and military installations in Saudi Arabia, using 8 ballistic missiles and 14 unmanned aerial vehicles. What warning does this allegedly sea-borne raid have for China?
The Saudi Ministry of National Defense announced on the evening of the 7th that the drone that attacked Rastanulah port was shot down before reaching the target. Ballistic missiles targeting Saudi Aramco’s affiliated facilities were also successfully intercepted, and part of the wreckage fell near residential areas. But no casualties were caused.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in a press conference on the 8th in response to a question from a reporterthat China has always opposed attacks on civilians and civilian facilities and supports Saudi Arabia’s efforts to maintain its own security and stability. Actions to escalate tensions.
At present, due to limited information, the specific equipment used by the Houthi armed forces and the effectiveness of the attack are still difficult to assess. However, since last year, Houthi armed forces have repeatedly attacked Saudi Arabia. These attacks are not strong, there is no electronic interference, no saturation attacks, and no stealth aircraft. Why do they still pose a threat to Saudi Arabia? Experts said that this exposed the shortcomings of Saudi Arabia’s early warning system. The inability to conduct early warning detection of ultra-low-altitude targets around the clock, and the limited interception range of cruise missiles, ultra-low-altitude UAVs, and ballistic missiles have led to repeated overturns of Saudi luxury equipment.
Experts said that the incident of a maritime drone attack on an important port in Saudi Arabia has a certain warning effect on China’s defense of relevant important coastal strategic facilities and islands and reefs. To deal with cruise missile and unmanned aerial vehicle swarm raids, it is necessary to improve the air surveillance system and realize the integration of multi-band, multi-sensor air-ground network detection system. The flight speed of cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles is relatively slow. Field short-range air defense systems such as Doyle have certain anti-cruise missile capabilities. The main difficulty lies in early warning. However, land-based radars are limited by the curvature of the earth, and for such ultra-low-altitude flying targets, the detection range is limited. The interception of fighter planes also requires early warning information. This requires comprehensive information from space-based systems such as early warning aircraft and balloon-borne radars.
