NICOSIA Ñ Iran intends to improve the capabilities of its Shihab-3
missile.
Iranian officials said Teheran has already demonstrated the range of the
missile and now intends to improve its subsystems. They said the
improvements are being developed amid the production of the Shihab-3.
Iran is said to have completed the production of 20 Shihab-3 missiles.
The missiles are powered by North Korean engines and were integrated with
help from Russia.
Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said the Shihab-3 effort would
seek to increase what he termed the cruise and lethality capabilities of the
intermediate-range missile. Shamkhani, speaking to reporters at a defense
exhibition, said Iran would use advanced data-relay systems to bolster the
guidance capabilities of the Shihab-3.
"Shamkhani stressed that Iran is planning to use the systems as an
industrial strategy to upgrade its current military hardware potentials, and
to control future needs," the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
The Shihab-3, which underwent three flight tests, has a range of 1,300
kilometers and is said to be a derivative of North Korea's No-Dong missile.
A flight test scheduled for January was aborted when the missile blew up
during the fueling stage.
Western intelligence sources said Iran has developed two models of the
Shihab-3. One version contains Iranian subsystems and the other is the basic
No-Dong. The model with the Iranian subsystems failed in a flight test more
than two years ago.
U.S. officials said Iran is a major North Korean client and Pyongyang is
helping Teheran develop the intermediate-range Shihab-4 missile. A senior
U.S. official said the missile will have a range of about 2,000 kilometers
that would allow Iran to strike targets in southern and central Europe.
Shamkhani denied that Iran was developing either the Shihab-4 or the
longer-range Shihab-5. The Shihab-5 is said to be planned for a range of
about 6,000 kilometers.