| Country: |
Iraq |
| Class: |
MRBM |
| Basing: |
Surface based |
| Length: |
23.00 m |
| Diameter: |
2.30 m |
| Launch Weight: |
48000 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead, 750 kg |
| Warhead: |
HE, chemical |
| Propulsion: |
3-stage liquid |
| Range: |
2000 km |
| Status: |
Terminated |
Details
The Al Aabed is a medium-range, ground-launched, liquid propellant missile that was under development by Iraq in the late 1980s. It is believed that the first Iraqi satellite vehicle, the Tamouz, was related to the Al Aabed due to its similar exterior design and what appeared to be linked development programs. The estimations of the capabilities of the Al Aabed come from details known about the Tamouz. The Tamouz is believed to have been made up of six Iraqi Al Abbas or Al Hussein missiles. However, Iraq is believed to have cancelled the Al Aabed program following the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The Al Aabed was a strategic missile, most likely planned for the deployment of a nuclear warhead. It is believed to have had an abysmal accuracy, given the fundamental inaccuracy of shorter-ranged Iraqi missiles, and its payload was not sufficiently increased to compensate for this drawback. The missile most likely would have been used to threaten a nuclear attack against weaker neighbors, to force submission, or prevent foreign intervention; it is believed to have been designed to reach targets as far as Eastern Europe. However, the Al Aabed suffered such weaknesses as requiring launch from a large, fixed base, and the fact that all three of its stages used liquid propellant, which resulted in a long fueling period during which it was extremely vulnerable to attack. Thus, the missile would have been useless in the face of coalition air power.
The Al Aabed had a planned range of 2,000 km (1,243 miles) with a payload of 750 kg. This payload would probably be high explosives or chemical, as the program was likely too short-lived for the development of a biological warhead to be developed. It would have used an inertial guidance system that would have provided it an extremely low accuracy, likely several kilometers CEP. It had an estimated launch length of 23.0 m, with a maximum diameter of 2.3 m, and a launch weight of 48,000 kg. It used a three-stage liquid propellant engine.
The first two test launches of the Al Aabed missile occurred in 1989. However, following Iraq's defeat in the First Gulf War, United Nations weapon inspectors found and destroyed most of the equipment required to manufacture the Al Aabed. The combination of the cost of restarting the program and its vulnerability to U.S. air strikes led to its ultimate termination. With the change of the government in Iraq following the 2003 Gulf War, there is no longer any direct threat from Iraq or the terminated Al Aabed program. However, it is possible that Iraq transferred Al Aabed technology to nearby states.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, ed., Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 557-558.
