Middle East Newsline March 28, 2002
SAUDIS BUILD MISSILE CITY
TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia has constructed a complex for the deployment of long-range missiles.
The Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported on Wednesday that the complex was built in the Al Sulial desert about 500 kilometers south of the capital Riyad. The complex contains huge missile silos, residential areas and factories in King Khaled City.
The newspaper published photographs from the Ikonos satellite of what was identified as two missile bases and a complex of 33 buildings, eight of them capable of storing Chinese long-range missiles. Yediot identified the missiles as the CSS-2, reported to have a range of between 2,500 and 3,500 kilometers. The missile, 24 meters long, is capable of carrying a nonconventional warhead.
The Saudi military has expanded the missile complex since 1995, when a French Spot satellite photographed the area. Riyad received deliveries of the CSS2 in 1990 as part of a deal for up to 120 missiles and 12 launchers.
Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.
