Yemeni Air Forces Shoot Down Turkish-Made Saudi Drone

YemenExtra

Yemeni troops and allied Popular Committees fighters say they have shot down a Turkish-built spy drone belonging to the Saudi-led military coalition over the northern province of Jawf.

The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on his official Twitter account on Sunday that the Yemeni defense forces managed to “shoot down a Turkish-made Karayel reconnaissance drone” owned and operated by the Saudi-led coalition “while it was carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of al-Marazeeq area” in Jawf province earlier in the day.

He noted that the spy drone had been downed with a Yemeni “suitable missile,” which has not been unveiled yet, Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

The targeted drone is the third of its kind to be destroyed by the Yemeni defense forces, the report said, adding that the second one was downed over the skies of al-Muhashamah area in the same province early in January and the first one was destroyed over the skies of the Salif area in the western province of Hudaydah late in 2019.

Karayel is a surveillance, reconnaissance and combat UAV/UCAV system developed for the Turkish Armed Forces and according to the report, it is considered the first tactical unmanned aircraft designed and produced in line with the NATO standards for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes.

Using domestically-developed missiles, the Yemeni army forces have downed numerous Saudi-led drones over the Yemeni skies during the past couple of years.