U.S. intelligence has confirmed that a Chinese missile navigation system is responsible for Iran's excitement about a recent missile test.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps last week demonstrated the integration of a system that turns the Shihab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile from a flying metal tube into a deadly weapon against Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
"The entire Iranian leadership attended the test and they feel they've broken new ground," an intelligence source said. The missile base at Dasht-E-Kabir appeared to be linked to the IRGC leadership in Teheran via fiberoptic cable, the source said.
The Shihab-3's problem has not been its range, but its accuracy. With a range of 1,400 kilometers, it can reach anywhere in Iraq, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
But the missile, based on the North Korean No Dong, was not accurate.
The Iranians appeared to have changed all that, the sources said. Teheran has procured and integrated a Chinese missile navigation system into the Shihab-3 apparently based on the Global Positioning System.
The sources said the new navigation system would allow Teheran to strike military targets rather than cities.
The U.S. intelligence community said the Iranian missile tested is the latest version of the Shihab-3, termed the Shihab-3D. In addition to an advanced navigation system, the missile also contained a super-high value warhead, a reference to a nuclear warhead, the intelligence sources said.
The missile base at Dasht-E-Kabir appeared to be linked to the IRGC leadership in Teheran via fiberoptic cable, they said.
Iran has been cryptic regarding the test and its goals. But Iranian officials said the Shihab-3 could now strike any target in Israel.
"The entire Zionist territory, including its nuclear facilities and atomic arsenal, are currently within range of Iran's advanced missiles," IRGC politburo chief Yadollah Javani was quoted by the official Iranian Student News Agency as saying. "Therefore, neither the Zionist regime nor America will carry out its threats."
The sources said Iran was expected to follow the ground test with a flight launch of the Shihab-3 by the end of the year. The ground test did not seek to extend the range of the Shihab-3 or improve its capabilities against the Israeli-U.S. Arrow-2 missile defense system.
Israel and the United States plan to conduct a flight launch of the Arrow-2 interceptor against the advanced Scud D medium-range missile deployed in Syria. The launch is expected to take place off the coast of southern California over the next few weeks.
Arieh Herzog, director of Homa, the Israel Missile Defense Organization, said the forthcoming test would be the first launch of an Arrow-2, described as an M-4 with components manufactured by Boeing under a production contract in the United States. In an earlier test in July, the two countries launched the Arrow-2M-3 that contained only Israeli components.
"The Iranians wanted to overcome the lack of accuracy in their missiles so they didn't have to target cities," a U.S. intelligence source said.
"Although the Iranians talked tough, targeting cities posed a political problem for them. Now the Iranians can strike Israeli military and U.S. military targets in Iraq if Teheran's nuclear weapons program is struck. Naturally, the Iranians are ecstatic."
