| Country: |
Iraq |
| Class: |
SRBM |
| Basing: |
Road mobile |
| Length: |
13.75 m |
| Diameter: |
0.88 m |
| Launch Weight: |
7870 kg |
| Payload: |
Single warhead, 225 kg |
| Warhead: |
HE, chemical |
| Propulsion: |
Single-stage liquid |
| Range: |
900 km |
| Status: |
Terminated |
Details
The Al Abbas was a short-range, road mobile, liquid propellant ballistic missile. Similar to the Al Hussein, Iraq claimed to have designed and developed the Al Abbas entirely in Iraq. However, it is now believed to have been the second of the Iraqi 'Scud B' variant missile systems.
First tested in 1988, the Al Abbas was a strategic weapon designed to strike Iran during the Iran-Iraq War, and perhaps Israel in a future conflict. The increased range of the Al Abbas would have given it a higher terminal speed when striking Israel and it would have most likely overwhelmed the older Patriot and Arrow 1 anti-missile systems. In addition, the mobile launchers would have given it a decent survivability both before and after launch. However, the missile's accuracy was so low that it could only have been deployed against extremely large targets. It would probably have been deployed in the same manner as the Al Hussein, against oil wells and population centers.
The Al Abbas was designed to have a range of 900 km (559 miles) and a payload of 225 kg. Its payload was a single warhead, most likely capable of carrying high explosives or chemical agents. A biological warhead would probably have been designed had the program not been cancelled. The missile's warhead is reported to have had an inertial guidance system with an accuracy of 3,000 m CEP. It was designed to be launched from the Al Hussein vehicle, a modified Russian 'Scud B' launcher. The Al Abbas missile was 13.75 m long, 0.88 m in diameter, and had a launch weight of 7,870 kg.
The Al Abbas program is believed to have been cancelled in 1990 due to its instability and poor performance. There is no evidence that any Al Abbas missiles were fired during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, supporting the theory that the missile never went into production in the first place. It is believed, however, that work continued on an alternative design that sought to improve the range and payload on the Al Hussein missile. Though the threat of attack from Iraq has decrease following the 2003 Gulf War, the technology involved in the development of the Al Abbas could have been distributed to other countries.(1)
Footnotes
- Duncan Lennox, ed., Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2007), 557-558.
