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    Friday, July 11, 2008

    Israelis: Nothing advanced about Iran missiles

    TEL AVIV — Israel has downplayed Iran's launch of what was termed an advanced Shihab-3 intermediate-range missile.

    Leading Israeli analysts said the Shihab-3 seen launched in an Iranian television broadcast was an old model. They said Iran has failed to test-flight any missile claimed to have a range of 2,000 kilometers.

    "The Iranians have a tendency to exaggerate to a certain extent the capabilities of their missiles," Uzi Rubin, a leading Israeli defense analyst and former missile defense chief, said.

    [On Friday, the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi daily quoted Iraqi military sources as saying that the Israel Air Force was exercising in eastern Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported. The newspaper said Israeli fighter-jets were conducting night exercises with the U.S. Air Force near the Iranian border.]

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    Rubin, who has been closely following Iran's missile programs, said the launch on July 9 was that of a legacy Shihab-3. He said this was a variant of the North Korean liquid-fuel No-Dong, with a range of 1,300 kilometers.

    "From what I saw, this is an old version of the Shihab-3, and contrary to their claims, it is not capable of reaching 2,000 kilometers, rather 1,300 kilometers," Rubin said.

    Other analysts agreed. Several of them, including Mark Fitzpatrick, a leading strategist at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Teheran doctored a photograph of a Shihab-3 launch on the website of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

    Nathan Farber, a senior researcher at the Israel Technical Institute, or Technion, said Teheran has not unveiled its latest missile. Farber said Iran was developing the Ashura solid-propellant missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers.

    Ashura was said to be slower than the Shihab-3, of which hundreds were manufactured over the last decade, and designed to reach Israel in 14 minutes. Farber said the liquid-fuel Shihab-3 could strike Israel within 11 minutes.

    Still, the Israeli government sought to counter Iran's missile claim. On Thursday, the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled its Eitam strategic unmanned aerial vehicle. Eitam was designed for deep-penetration combat and reconnaissance missions.



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