Iran downplays timing of solid-fuel missile test
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
NICOSIA — Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has launched its first solid-fuel intermediate-range missile less than a week after demanding on Nov. 5 the U.S. military stay our of its air space near Iraq.
Officials said the IRGC has tested a solid-fuel ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers. They said the indigenous surface-to-surface weapon was fired during a land force exercise in Iran on Nov. 12.
"This missile is a two-stage weapon with two combined solid-fuel engines and has an extraordinarily high capability," Iranian Defense Minister Mustafa Najar said. "It has a high launching speed."
"The Sajil missile test was planned a year ago, and has nothing to do with recent developments in the region," Najar said.
On Nov. 5, the Iranian military demanded that U.S. combat helicopters in Iraq keep away from the Iranian border. Teheran said it was preparing to stop any U.S. intrusion of Iranian air space.
Officials said this marked the first flight-test of the solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile, named Sajil. They said the casing and subsystems of the missile resembled those of the Shihab-3, also reported to have a range of 2,000 kilometers.
"This missile test was conducted within the framework of a defensive, deterrent strategy and specifically with defensive objectives," Najar said.
Officials said the development of Sajil marked a watershed in Iran's military buildup. They said solid-fuel missiles, more accurate than their liquid-fuel counterparts, could be removed from storage, prepared and fired within 90 minutes. In contrast, liquid-fuel missiles such as the Shihab-3 could take up to 12 hours to fuel.
Iran has reported the development of a range of ballistic missiles, rockets torpedoes and air and ground platforms. Most of the weapons were said to have been tested in military exercises over the last two years.
Iranian television showed the Sajil launch on Nov. 12. Earlier, Western intelligence sources said an Iranian state television report of a successful intermediate-range ballistic missile launch in July 2008 was bogus.
Six days later, the Iranian media reported the launch of a new surface-to-surface missile during an exercise by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran's Press TV said the Nov. 11 exercise took place in Marivan along the border with Iraq.
Press TV did not provide details of the missile, later identified as Sajil. The news outlet said IRGC also tested artillery systems and rockets during the exercise near the Iraqi border.
"During the Nov. 10 maneuver, Iranian forces also put to the test IRGC's heavy and semi-heavy artillery and rocket launchers," the Iranian television said.