Investor's Business Daily January 29, 2007
Iran Shot An Arrow...
Axis Of Evil: Iran has announced the conversion of its most powerful missile into a satellite launch vehicle. A missile that can put an object in orbit can also put a warhead on a target far away.
As its centrifuges whirl away enriching uranium into weapons-grade material suitable for use in warheads destined for use against Israel and the West, Iran also is working — like its WMD partner in the axis of evil, North Korea — on the means to deliver them, eventually to any target on the planet.
Aviation Week & Space Technology reports in its Jan. 29 issue that Iran is converting its intermediate range ballistic missile, the Shahab-3, into a satellite launch vehicle, in part as a shot across the Western bow, and as part of its development of ballistic missile technology.
Alaoddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission told a group of religious students and clerics gathered in the city of Qom recently about the imminent Iranian test. Qom is near the site where Iran conducts its ballistic missile tests.
The modified launcher and missile development by Iran also highlight the close technological ties between Tehran and Pyongyang. Analysts at the think tank GlobalSecurity.Org think the new modification could be a step toward an Iranian version of the North Korean Taepodong 2C/3 intercontinental ballistic missile that failed in a recent test.
The Shahab-3 simply is Iran's version of the North Korean Nodong enhanced to carry a one-ton warhead 1,000-plus miles. Confirmed reports place Iranian scientists and engineers inside North Korea in 1993, when the Nodong class missile was first tested and unveiled. A Shahab-3 fired from central Iran can hit targets anywhere in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and as far as southern Turkey.
Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill confirmed in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Iranian scientists and engineers also were present when North Korea conducted its missile barrage test, including the launch of the Taepodong 2C/3.
Iran's cooperation with North Korea began in the 1980s, when Tehran financed Pyongyang's production of Soviet-designed Scud missiles and received 100 of them. Later, North Korea shipped engines for Nodong midrange missiles to Iran. Pyongyang also has helped Tehran set up missile production facilities, and North Koreans are regular visitors to these plants.
A November Congressional Research Service report reinforced concerns over Iranian and North Korean ties relating to missile technology. The report said Israel's military intelligence chief had information indicating that North Korea had shipped 18 ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead up to 1,500 miles.
Western intelligence officials are concerned that the modifications required to turn the Shahab into a satellite launcher could eventually lead to a longer-range intercontinental ballistic missile with a 2,500-mile range, giving Tehran the ability to strike as far as central Europe, well into Russia and even China and India.
Instead of the single cone normally attached to this type of missile, the Shahab carries what is called a "triconic" warhead consisting of three cones. A triconic warhead allows the Shahab to accommodate a nuclear device, and this type of warhead is normally used only for nuclear weapons.
The satellite Iran is projected to be able to put in orbit is relatively small, perhaps 300 kilograms (660 pounds), about the size of Israel's "Ofek" reconnaissance satellite. But so was Russia's Sputnik, which demonstrated a growing and threatening ballistic missile capability.
As noted by Uzi Rubin, the former head of the Israel Missile Defense Organization: "Once Iran learns how to put 300 kg into Earth orbit, it could adapt the satellite launcher into an ICBM that could drop more than 300 kg anywhere in the world." Like Tel Aviv or New York.
© Copyright 2007, Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
