A new humanitarian truce in effect between the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen and Saudi Arabia is unlikely to hold for two months.
Already, the Houthis have accused the Saudis of committing dozens of "violations" as the Iran-backed Shiite militant organization likely prepares the ground for further missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities, oil refineries, airports, and other strategic locations.
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The Houthi's aerial terror campaign was extended to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in January, in deadly missile and drone strikes. The Saudi-led coalition has been engaged in a lengthy campaign of airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The aerial threats faced by the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are not very different from the ones faced by Israel. Iranian-made ballistic missiles and rockets, cruise missiles, and kamikaze drones are located across Lebanon in Hezbollah warehouses.
Hezbollah, for its part, has helped train the Houthis. In exchange, it has received access to Houthi battle doctrine and knowledge, with close access to how its fighters employ the group's firepower. In fact, the long war of attrition between the Houthis and moderate Sunni Arab Gulf states has served as a kind of lab for the Iranian-led radical axis, and the lessons from these "experiments" will be studied closely and likely applied in the future against Israel.
The United States has been working with GCC countries to boost their air defenses, but Israel, in theory, can contribute some of its own systems to this fight in future defense deals.
The January announcement by the UAE over the deal to by the M-SAM South Korean air-defense system, which is a competitor to Rafael's Iron Dome in many ways, makes an Iron Dome purchase by the UAE less likely going forward.
But the massive defense budgets of the Emiratis – and the Saudis – also means there are plenty of other opportunities for purchasing Israeli systems.
One such candidate is David's Sling, a system made by Rafael that provides long-range air- and missile-defense coverage, and is operational within the IDF.
The advanced interceptor missile, known as the Stunner or the SkyCeptor, could be combined with other types of launchers, such as US Raytheon-made Patriot launchers, which both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi already possess.
Theoretically, Rafael could also offer Gulf states its Spyder air-defense systems, which come in multiple configurations for long-, medium- and short-range defenses. Spyder systems are operational around the world.
Last year, the Czech Republic ordered four Spyder systems. These use missiles that were originally made as air-to-air missiles and converted into advanced surface-to-air missiles, such as the Python-5, I-Derby, and I-Derby Extend Range, which use a booster to reach a range of 80 kilometers (50 miles).
These longer-range versions of Spyder employ Israel Aerospace Industries' Multi-Mission Radar, which the Czechs received their first unit of in recent days. Prague has ordered a total of eight such radars.
In addition, Gulf states can receive IAI's Barak air-defense and missile-protection systems, which also come in three configurations (short-range, medium-range, and long-range, and can take on drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles).
Gulf states could also take an interest in Israel's new "Sky Dew" aerial radar, which became operational in late March. The system includes advanced IAI-Elta radar inside a floating aerostat, providing a far greater coverage range. This makes it easier to detect evasive low-altitude threats such as cruise missiles and drones.
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The United States has already supplied the UAE with Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems, Patriots, and Swiss-made guns that are guided by radar (called Sky Guard), while Saudi Arabia also possesses THAAD, Patriots, and Sky Guard.
But these systems are not optimized to defend against low, slow-flying drones.
As the Houthis continue to develop their abilities to launch drones such as the long-range Samad 3 and cruise missiles such as the Quds 2 – which they fired at Abu Dhabi in January and at Saudi Arabia before that – Israel can, theoretically, provide new capabilities to its Gulf allies, and in the process, create its own "experiment" lab to learn invaluable lessons for its own security as well.
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
