The Yemeni Houthis shot down an MQ-9 Reaper high-altitude reconnaissance and strike drone, utilizing an Iranian-made surface-to-air missile in the operation.

Al Arabia confirmed the downing of the aircraft, with a spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Defense acknowledging to reporters that the U.S. Air Force lost contact with the MQ-9 drone while it was conducting operations over the Red Sea earlier this week.

The drone was conducting a mission as part of Operation Poseidon Archer, targeting the Yemeni Houthis.

Houthi representatives subsequently released footage of the interception, asserting that the aircraft was downed near the border of Hodeidah province.

According to the interface and characteristic features, the Houthis used a 358 surface-to-air missile, which is actively supplied to terrorists by Iran, to intercept the drone.

Footage released by Yemen’s armed forces shows the moment they destroy a $30+ million US MQ-9 Reaper drone with a locally-made surface-to-air missile. pic.twitter.com/PUV9GnMvQG

— Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) March 5, 2025

The peculiarity of this munition is the use of an atypical concept of drifting in the air, which allows to hit targets at long distances without using radar monitoring and control from the ground.

The 358 missile is built using a variable thrust liquid-fuel jet engine, which made it possible to launch from a primitive guide and stay in the air for a long time. Its guidance is performed by automatic capture when a heat-contrasting object enters the view sector of the infrared homing head.

This is not the first time a US drone has been shot down over Yemen. The series of aircraft strikes dates back to 2019, when Iran started supplying terrorists with compact and easy-to-use missiles.

Prior to that, the Houthis had no effective air defense capabilities, as most of the captured Yemeni army anti-aircraft systems were destroyed during the civil war and Operation Decisive Storm.

Read more on the design features of the unique missile and how it became the main anti-aircraft weapon of the terrorists in the article “Missile 358: On the Edge of Drone and Anti-Aircraft Missile”.