The Yemeni Air Force was built on Cold War rivalries and remains largely inoperable today.

Cultures · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Born from the competing interests of the United States and the Soviet Union, the Yemeni Air Force spent decades as a fragmented, volatile collection of inherited hardware. After surviving internal civil wars and shifting alliances, the force has been largely dismantled by modern airstrikes, leaving a legacy of grounded wreckage.

The origins of Yemeni air power trace back to the 1920s, when Imam Yahya sought Italian assistance to counter British influence. However, early efforts were plagued by crashes and language barriers. It was not until the late 1940s and the subsequent establishment of the Yemen Arab Republic Air Force (YARAF) in 1967 that a formal structure emerged. Simultaneously, the British-backed South Arabian Air Force evolved into the People's Republic of Yemen Air Force (PRYAF) following independence in November 1967. These two entities, supported by rival superpowers, spent decades in a state of uneasy competition and open conflict.

The 1970s and 1980s saw a rapid influx of Soviet-made aircraft, including MiG-21s and Su-22s, alongside American-supplied F-5E fighters provided to the North after the 1979 war. Despite this modernization, the air forces suffered from high loss rates due to pilot inexperience and the frequent use of foreign mercenaries. The 1986 civil war in the South decimated the PRYAF, and while unification in 1990 attempted to merge the two branches, the process was fraught with tension. By the 1994 civil war, the air force was a fractured entity, with both sides operating similar aircraft, leading to frequent friendly fire incidents.

In the 21st century, the air force became a tool for internal security, targeting Houthi insurgents and al-Qaeda bases with American-funded training and equipment. However, the Saudi-led intervention beginning in 2015 proved catastrophic for the fleet. Coalition airstrikes systematically targeted air bases, destroying hangars, transport planes, and fighter jets on the tarmac. By 2017, the Yemeni Air Force was assessed as non-functional. While some elements were later rebuilt with UAE training, the force remains a shadow of its former self, with many of its once-advanced assets now reduced to scrap or abandoned in the wake of decades of persistent warfare.

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