Subject: IRAQI SPECIAL WEAPONS Not Finally Evaluated Intelligence TO FACILITATE ELECTRONIC ACCESS, THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REFORMATTED TO ELIMINATE INFORMATION THAT DOES NOT PERTAIN TO GULF WAR ILLNESS ISSUES OR THAT IS CLASSIFIED. A COPY OF THIS REDACTED DOCUMENT, IN ORIGINAL FORMAT, IS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST. FEB 91 DIRECTOR 492438 SUBJECT: EVALUATION OF IRAQI SPECIAL WEAPONS CAPABILITIES 1. BELIEVE THAT IRAQ HAS SOME CHEMICAL-- AND POSSIBLY BIOLOGICAL--WARHEADS FOR SCUD-TYPE MISSILES IRAQ SUCCESSFULLY TESTED A CHEMICAL WARHEAD EARLY LAST YEAR. BY NOW, BAGHDAD PROBABLY HAS PRODUCED AT LEAST A LIMITED NUMBER OF THESE WARHEADS. 3. HOWEVER, IRAQ MAY HAVE DIFFICULTY EFFECTIVELY USING CBW WARHEADS. THE PATRIOT WILL PROBABLY INTERCEPT THEM AT ALTITUDES TOO HIGH TO CAUSE GROUND-LEVEL CONTAMINATION, EXCEPT POSSIBLY FOR A BIOLOGICAL WARHEAD. 5. OUR ANALYSIS INDICATE THAT ALMOST ALL THE IRAQI MISSILES LAUNCHED AT ISRAEL AND SAUDI ARABIA ARE BREAKING UP DURING REENTRY, AND THE WARHEAD IS PROBABLY SEPARATING UNINTENTIONALLY ON MOST OF THE LAUNCHES. THE SEPARATION MAY CAUSE THE FUSE, REGARDLESS OF THE TYPE, TO FAIL DEPENDING ON THE HEIGHT OF SEPARATION AND WHERE ON THE MISSILE THE SEPARATION OCCURS. SOME OF THE INCOMING WARHEADS ON THESE LAUNCHES DID NOT FUSE ON IMPACT BECAUSE THE ELECTRIC POWER TO THE WARHEAD WAS CUT DURING SEPARATION BEFORE THE SYSTEM COULD ARM ITSELF. 6. WHILE AN IMPACT FUSE CAN BE USED FOR CHEMICAL WARHEADS, THE AREA OF LETHAL CONTAMINATION WILL BE GREATLY REDUCED. AT THE EXPECTED INTERCEPT ALTITUDE OF A PATRIOT MISSILE, MOST BULK- FILL CW AGENTS WOULD DISSIPATE BEFORE REACHING THE GROUND. UPPER- ALTITUDE WINDS WOULD TEND TO BLOW BOTH CW AND BW AGENTS OFF-TARGETS, AND ANY CW AGENT THAT DID REACH THE GROUND PROBABLY WOULD BE SO WIDELY DISPERSED AS TO BE RELATIVELY INEFFECTIVE. TO ILLUSTRATE, A WARHEAD THAT EVENLY DISTRIBUTED 300 KG OF VX COULD EFFECTIVELY COVER ABOUT 1.5 SQUARE KILOMETERS; SPREADING THIS AMOUNT OVER THE 60 SQUARE-KILOMETER-AREA WOULD YIELD A NEARLY HARMLESS CONCENTRATION. END OF MESSAGE 1.5(C) 65279:65279First Page |Prev Page |Next Page |Src Image
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
