Direct proof of use
The ALARM anti-radiation missile is directly documented in the 2014 Yemen Civil War through UK parliamentary reporting on Saudi use of UK-supplied equipment. In a January 29, 2019 written answer, the UK Ministry of Defence stated that the Royal Saudi Air Force had operated UK-supplied Typhoon and Tornado aircraft in Yemen and used Paveway, Dual Mode Brimstone, Storm Shadow, and ALARM munitions since March 2015.
Defense News reported the same list from then Defence Secretary Michael Fallon's earlier parliamentary answer and placed ALARM among British-supplied precision-guided weapons used by Saudi Arabia against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The available public record identifies Saudi use of ALARM in the campaign, but it does not identify a specific launch date, target site, or radar engagement.
Sources: UK Parliament Yemen military intervention answer, Defense News UK-supplied precision weapons
Timeline
Saudi-led coalition air operations began in March 2015 after Houthi-aligned forces advanced and Yemen's internationally recognized president fled Aden. The ALARM evidence begins in that intervention period: UK Parliament's later answer frames Saudi use of the munition as occurring in Yemen since March 2015.
By October 2016, Defense News reported that Fallon had confirmed British-supplied precision-guided weapons used in Yemen included ALARM. In 2024, Armada International reported that the Royal Saudi Air Force was believed to be the last ALARM operator and said it had been told that Saudi forces deployed ALARM during the Yemen intervention, while adding that the reported Saudi use was against general surface targets rather than specifically as an anti-radar missile.
Sources: CFR Yemen and Red Sea tracker, UK Parliament Yemen military intervention answer, Defense News UK-supplied precision weapons, Armada Difficult Decisions
Narrative
ALARM was designed for suppression of enemy air defenses. The RAF Museum describes the missile as an air-launched anti-radiation weapon built primarily to attack enemy ground radars in SEAD operations, and a Royal Air Force air-power study describes Tornado GR4 carriage, pre-planned navigation, passive radar homing, and direct, loiter, and dual attack modes.
In Yemen, the public evidence is narrower than the weapon's design role. It supports Saudi possession and use of ALARM munitions during coalition air operations, but it does not show that a particular Yemeni radar or air-defense emitter was engaged by ALARM. Armada's 2024 account is therefore important context: it reports Saudi deployment during the Yemen intervention but says the missile was not specifically used as an anti-radar weapon and was instead used against general surface targets.
The catalog entry consequently treats ALARM's Yemen role as a Saudi-led coalition air-launched precision-strike munition with an anti-radiation design background, not as a fully documented radar-kill case. The side attribution is the Royal Saudi Air Force within the Yemeni government and Saudi-led coalition side of the conflict.
Sources: RAF Museum MBDA ALARM, RAF Air Power Review SEAD article, Armada Difficult Decisions, UK Parliament Yemen military intervention answer
