3THE SITREP: THE EMERGENCE OF DRONE WARFARE LEADS TO NEW ANTI-DRONE TECHNOLOGIESeBRIEF
The urgency to protect troops, bases, and installations from drone attacks changed forever on September 14, 2019. That’s when a swarm of small, low-flying drones unleashed by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels targeted Saudi Arabia’s oil processing facilities at Abqaiq—causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, temporarily cutting the kingdom’s oil production in half, and spiking global crude oil prices. Even though the oil facility was protected by three Skyguard short-range air defense batteries from Germany, a U.S. Patriot surface-to-air missile defense system, and a French Shahine (Crotale) short-range anti-air missile system, none of the approximately 10 drones were destroyed before striking their target. In essence, Saudi Arabia had prepared for a nation-state battle with ballistic missiles and was unprepared for guerilla warfare of the type launched by the Islamic, anti-U.S., anti-Israel Houthi movement. The attack was nothing less than a Pearl Harbor-type wake-up call for the need to counter unmanned aerial systems with defense technology commonly referred to as C-UAS.
https://info.breakingdefense.com/hubfs/eBrief_CUAS%20Counter-UAS%20Systems%20031720.pdf
