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Khaibar Shekan

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) unveiled the new generation solid-propellant ballistic missile, named Kheibar / Khaibar / Khaibar Shekan, on 09 February 2022. It was unveiled during a visit to a surface-to-surface missile base of the Guards' air force, with the chief of the aerospace department Amirali Hajizadeh present. Sepahnews said the missile has a range of 1,450 kilometers (about 900 miles), runs on solid fuel and is capable of penetrating anti-missile systems. This reprsents a significant improvement over the Dezful that was unveiled in February 2019, claimed to have a range of 1,000 km. The Jewish state is located little more than 1,000 kilometers from Iran's western frontier.

In response to the Israeli attack on Iran's consulate building in Syria on April 1, the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fired dozens of missiles and drones on Israeli targets on April 13. Iran’s anti-Israel operation was conducted by Shahed 131/136 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Kheibar Shekan ballistic missiles, Emad ballistic missiles, and Paveh cruise missiles. Five to ten minutes before the surviving drones and cruise missiles were to reach their intended targets in the occupied territories, Iran launched the main weapons of the ‘True Promise’ operation. The ballistic missiles were not launched simultaneously on purpose to reduce the shock effect on Israel's missile defenses. Surviving drones and cruise missiles put additional stress on the radars and sensors, creating completely different targets at lower altitudes. The most advanced ballistic missile known to have been used in the operation is the Kheybar-Shekan. This missile completely avoids Arrow-3 and SM-3 interceptors by flying inside the very upper layers of the atmosphere. Once close to Arrow-2, Patriot and David-Sling, it further descends to engage with the earth's atmosphere to begin random evasive maneuvering by its fins. Kheybar-Shekan performs its maneuvering in the upper atmosphere layers and once it has slowed down to a certain threshold speed, it dives down at a steep angle. Since it depends on the selected trajectory, its impact speed can be five times the speed of sound, combined with prior maneuvering; some classify it as Iran's first hypersonic weapon.

Kheybar-Shekan and Emad are candidates for some of the very clear impacts, foremost at least five successive hits seen in one of the videos. Other missiles that might have participated are the Rezvan and Haj-Qasem, but no clear launch or spent booster footage of those has appeared as of now. The targets were Israeli air bases, which represent difficult, highly protected high-value assets of the regime. This target would not be a completely disproportionate response, achieve the retaliation objective and display Iran's missile capabilities to Israel for strategic reasons.

Only the Kheybar-Shekan could be classified as advanced in this operation and for all it seems, it's the most likely candidate for the systems that hit Nevatim 5-times in sequence. Hence there is a credible chance that a ballistic missile, one generation behind Iran's current ones, can already penetrate Israel's missile defenses at will.

The Guards' Sepahnews website said the missile was named the Khaybarchekan after a victorious battle fought by the Prophet Mohammed in the seventh century. Kheibar shekan means: 'Fortress Breaker', 'Kheibar' is the Jewish fortress that was conquered by the Muslims in the beginning of Islam, 'Shekan' is equal to 'Breaker' or 'Destroyer'.

The announcement came a day after the resumption of indirect talks in Vienna on salvaging a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Iran in January 2022 tested an engine for a solid-fuel rocket designed to launch satellites.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is consistently improving its missile capabilities to counter aggressors, oppressors, arrogant powers as well as murderous Zionists,” Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri said during the unveiling ceremony, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic will continue promoting its missile technology both “quantitatively and qualitatively”.

He added the enemies of the Islamic Republic don’t understand anything other the language of force. If the enemies feel that by attacking Iran, they will gain anything more than what they will lose they never care about “ethics”, “humanity”, “human rights”, or “admonishment” by the media. Bagheri also hailed the “dynamic” dissuasive power of the Iranian armed forces, saying the country is broadening both its inventory of military hardware and human resources.

According to a recent Pentagon study, Iran's missile arsenal is larger than that of any other West Asian country. "Iran has an extensive missile development program, and the size and sophistication of its missile force continue to grow despite decades of counter-proliferation efforts aimed at limiting its advancement," the report stated.

The United States reacted by criticizing Iran's weapons development. "Iran's development and proliferation of ballistic missiles poses a threat to the international security and remains a significant nonproliferation challenge," State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters. "We continue to use a variety of nonproliferation tools to prevent any further advancement of Iran's missile program, and its ability to proliferate technology to others," Porter added. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said on February 9 when asked about the Khaibar Shekan. “We don't look at this as a messaging issue. We look at it as a legitimate national security threat issue in the region to our people, to our facilities, and to those of our allies and partners.”

The missile, called “Kheibar Shekan” (Castle Buster), is able to hit its designated target with pinpoint accuracy and an extremely high speed, IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh explained. The missile, which is propelled by solid fuel, is classified among the third generation of the IRGC missiles. It is unique in terms of weight and firing. Its weight is reduced by one-third in comparison to similar ones and the time needed to launch it has been reduced by six times. The Kheibar Shekan missile also enjoys high maneuverability in face of anti-missile systems at the stage of landing.

The Iranian nation toppled the Pahlavi regime, which was fully supported by the United States, in the winter of 1979 after the shah regime was forced to allow the late founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khomeini to return from exile. On the 43rd anniversary of the auspicious occasion, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) unveiled on Wednesday a new ballistic missile with a range of 1,450 kilometers (900 miles). The precision strike ballistic missile, dubbed Kheybarshekan, was said to be capable of striking its designated targets with pinpoint accuracy.

The new ballistic missile is reportedly among third-generation long-range missiles indigenously developed and manufactured by military experts at the IRGC’s Aerospace Division. The new missile uses solid propellants and is said to be capable of penetrating into missile shields with high maneuverability during its landing stage.

In the landing phase, this missile has significant maneuverability to pass through anti-missile systems, and its optimal design has reduced its weight by one-third compared to similar samples, and its preparation and firing time has reportedly been reduced by one-sixth. Extreme agility and speed, as well as the ability to hit targets within a radius of 1450 km, are other capabilities of this missile. Kheibar shekan missile has a detachable and guided warhead until the end of the route and the ability to perform maneuvers. The warhead speed of this missile in the final phase is between 7 to 10 Mach. Kheibar shekan missile warhead is a tri-conic type missile that uses this configuration to maintain stability during heavy maneuvers.

Examination of the published images of the Kheibarshekan rocket shows the significant acceleration of this rocket after launch, which indicates the high speed of the rocket before leaving the earth's atmosphere so that the rocket reaches speeds above 4 to 5 Mach before leaving the atmosphere. Such high acceleration greatly reduces the effects of deceleration due to the gravitational force of the earth, which ultimately leads to an increase in the range of the rocket.

Another advantage of the Kheibar shekan missile is its smaller size compared to similar models in the country. Shrinking the missile has significant advantages, including the smaller the missile, the more it can be stored in underground missile bases. Another advantage is the ability to use a wide range of launchers, which, according to published images, the launcher used for the Kheibar shekan missile is mounted on a 10-wheeled commercial truck that can also be camouflaged as a commercial vehicle.

Solid-fuel ballistic missiles such as the Fateh, Zulfiqar, and Dezful have previously been observed on dual-launchers, but this is the first time that Iran has unveiled dual-launcher for missiles with a range of 1,450 km. Another issue in the study of the Kheibar shekan missile is the type of warhead that, according to the published images, the warhead is of the type of high explosive. According to the commander of the IRGC Air Force, materials have been used in the Kheibar shekan war, which has increased its explosive power several times. Considering the way this missile is registered, it is possible to consider the possibility of developing trench-breaking warheads for this missile as well.