Emiratos Arabes Unidos (EAU) es uno de los pocos pa\u00edses que ha adquirido y dispone en servicio operacional,, del sofisticado sistema de Defensa A\u00e9rea y Misil\u00edstica, THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Aerial Defense), desarrollado por la empresa Lockheed Martin. El 17ene21 el THAAD neutraliz\u00f3 el ataque realizado por las milicias Houthis de Yemen sobre instalaciones de EAU, que emplearon misiles bal\u00edsticos de mediano alcance,\u00a0 misiles de crucero y drones letales.\u00a0 Se tratar\u00eda de la primera interceptaci\u00f3n de un misil bal\u00edstico en operaciones, por parte del sistema THAAD, provisto adem\u00e1s en EEUU y pa\u00edses aliados.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 A multibillion-dollar missile defense system owned by the United Arab Emirates and developed by the U.S. military intercepted a ballistic missile on Monday during a deadly attack by Houthi militants in Abu Dhabi, marking the system\u2019s first known use in a military operation, Defense News has learned.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System<\/a>, made by\u00a0Lockheed Martin<\/a>, took out the midrange ballistic missile used to attack an Emirati oil facility near Al-Dhafra Air Base, according to two sources granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the UAE\u2019s activities. The Emirati base hosts U.S. and French forces.<\/p>\n The attack, which used cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones, killed three civilians and wounded six others, UAE\u2019s ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, said earlier in the week.<\/p>\n \u201cSeveral attacks, a combination of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones, targeted civilian sites in the UAE. Several were intercepted, a few of them [weren\u2019t], and three innocent civilians unfortunately lost their lives,\u201d Al Otaiba said at a virtual event sponsored by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.<\/p>\n The Emirati Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n The UAE was a key member of the Saudi-led coalition that entered Yemen\u2019s civil war in 2015, after the Houthis had overrun Yemen\u2019s capital of Sanaa the previous year and ousted the country\u2019s president from power. Although the UAE has largely withdrawn forces from the conflict, it remains heavily involved in the war and supports local militias on the ground in Yemen.<\/p>\n U.S. Central Command on Friday confirmed \u201ca potential inbound threat\u201d had forced U.S. service members at Al-Dhafra into their bunkers, in a \u201cheightened alert posture\u201d for about 30 minutes Sunday night. Airmen were directed to keep their protective gear close for 24 hours afterwards.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything was professional and disciplined. The \u2018all clear\u2019 was called at 9:27 p.m. local time,\u201d said Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for the command. \u201cThere was no mission impact.\u201d<\/p>\n Lockheed Martin declined to comment.<\/p>\n THAAD, which is designed to counter short-, medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, was initially developed in the 1990s. It struggled in early testing, but has had a consistent reliability track record in flight tests since Lockheed Martin in 2000 won the development contract to turn THAAD into a mobile tactical army fire unit.<\/p>\n