Direct proof of use
The F-15S was documented in the 2014 Yemen Civil War as a Royal Saudi Air Force strike aircraft used by the Saudi-led coalition. Aviation Week reported during the opening week of Operation Decisive Storm that Saudi Arabia was supporting the campaign with about 100 aircraft and that one RSAF F-15S Strike Eagle crashed into the Gulf of Aden on March 28, 2015 after technical problems, with both aircrew rescued by a U.S. helicopter.
A Washington Institute assessment published in August 2015 described roughly 170 coalition strike aircraft in the Yemen campaign, including about 100 Saudi aircraft, mostly F-15S and Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. The same assessment summarized the early air campaign as strikes against air bases, air-defense complexes, missile systems, ports, troop concentrations, leadership locations, military camps, and arms depots.
Sources: Aviation Week Decisive Storm, Washington Institute Air Campaign
Timeline
On March 26, 2015, Operation Decisive Storm began as the Saudi-led coalition opened an air campaign in Yemen. By March 31, Aviation Week reported F-15S aircraft among the Saudi assets visible in released footage from King Khalid air base, and separately reported the March 28 Gulf of Aden crash of an RSAF F-15S during the opening campaign period.
In January 2018, Houthi-aligned media released infrared footage that The War Zone assessed as showing a claimed engagement against a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15S over Yemen. The War Zone treated the aircraft's ultimate fate as uncertain from the available footage, while The Aviationist reported a separate visual analysis of the Sanaa-area claim and identified the aircraft in the clip only as an F-15 of unknown version.
On March 21, 2018, a Saudi-led coalition fighter was intercepted by a hostile air-defense missile launched from Saada airport but returned safely to base, according to an Arab News report citing coalition spokesman Col. Turki bin Saleh Al-Malki. The Aviation Geek Club tied the same incident to a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15S and reported that the aircraft was damaged but recovered.
Sources: Aviation Week Decisive Storm, TWZ F-15S FLIR Video, Aviationist Sanaa F-15 Claim, Arab News Saada Missile, Aviation Geek Club Saada F-15S
Operational role
In the Yemen campaign, the F-15S appears in sources as a Saudi coalition strike and interdiction aircraft rather than as a transferred system or a weapon held by Yemeni parties. The documented operator was the Royal Saudi Air Force, and the catalog side is Yemeni government and Saudi-led coalition forces.
The open record supports use in the broader air campaign and in contested airspace over Yemen, including Sanaa and Saada incidents in 2018. The sources do not attribute specific individual airstrikes to a named F-15S tail number, so the page treats the aircraft type as part of the coalition strike force and as the subject of later Houthi air-defense engagements.
Sources: Washington Institute Air Campaign, TWZ F-15S FLIR Video, Aviation Geek Club Saada F-15S
