Troubling Report Claims America Narrowly Avoided Military Disaster During Brutal Bombing Campaign
The United States military reportedly narrowly avoided a complete disaster during the bombing campaign against the Houthis.
President Donald Trump launched an overwhelming air campaign against the Houthis in Yemen to get the rebel group to stop shooting at American ships.
The campaign lasted several weeks, and consisted of rolling air strikes against the terrorists. The President announced last week that the Houthis had agreed to no longer fire on American ships in return for the bombing stopping.
Trump accepted the offer, but there are now some troubling issues that have surfaced.
President Donald Trump ended the military's bombing campaign against the Houthis. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Houthis reportedly nearly shot down an F-35.
The New York Times published a lengthy profile of the military campaign, and there is one part that is incredibly concerning:
Houthi air defenses nearly took down an F-35 and other jets.
The New York Times reported the following:
"In those first 30 days, the Houthis shot down seven American MQ-9 drones (around $30 million each), hampering Central Command’s ability to track and strike the militant group. Several American F-16s and an F-35 fighter jet were nearly struck by Houthi air defenses, making real the possibility of American casualties, multiple U.S. officials said."
The Houthis in Yemen reportedly nearly shot down an F-35. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)
The fact the Houthis reportedly hit an F-35 is incredibly concerning. The F-35 is a highly-advanced fifth-generation fighter jet that is *SUPPOSED* to be capable of evading the most advanced radar and air defense systems on the planet. Specifically, it's designed to defeat Russian and Chinese technology.
How the hell did the Houthis, who have no highly-advanced air defense systems, nearly hit arguably the stealthiest fighter on the planet (the F-22 might be stealthier, but that's a debate for another day)?
The Houthis are believed to operate the Barq-1 and Barq-2 defense systems, according to The War Zone. Those systems shouldn't ever be able to detect stealth fighters. Even if they did, the way stealth fighters evade fire is that the weapons can't maintain a consistent lock, which is 100% necessary to engage a stealth fighter.
If poor Houthi air defenses can detect an F-35, then what about China and Russia? This also isn't the first time something like this has happened. It was reported that Iranian or Russian defenses successfully locked onto an Israeli F-35 over Iraqi airspace during an October attack on Iran. The Israelis reportedly had to fire their missiles early and get the hell back to safety.
An Israeli F-35 was reportedly locked onto over Iraqi airspace in 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
The public will never likely know the full details of how an F-35 was nearly shot down, but it would have been catastrophic if it had been. A massive recovery operation would likely have been launched to recover the remains before enemy forces did, and shipped it back to China, Iran or Russia to attempt to reverse engineer the stealth fighter.
We've seen it play out before. America once lost an F-35 in the South China Sea, and a race was underway to get it before the Chinese did.
The Houthis reportedly nearly shot down an F-35. (Photo by Nick Ut/Getty Images)
What do you think of the stunning report? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.