October 7, 2008

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Alacran

Country:  Argentina
Class:  SRBM
Basing:  Surface
Length:  6.20 m
Diameter:  0.56 m
Launch Weight:  1620 kg
Payload:  Single warhead, 400 kg
Warhead:  HE, chemical, or submunitions
Propulsion:  Single-stage solid
Range:  150 km
Status:  Unknown
In Service:  1990

Details

The Alacran is a short-range, surface-based, solid-propellant, single-warhead ballistic missile. Argentina developed the Alacran with the aid of contracted European corporations starting in 1979 as an offshoot of Condor 1. Condor 1 was a space launch vehicle created with the same technology and assistance. It is believed that Argentina participated in a joint venture with Iraq on the development of the missile. Argentina is listed as a country which is known to produce ballistic missiles and their parts.  Argentina is also referenced as a nation with nuclear weapons, but it is widely reported that they have abandoned their weapons program.1


The Alacran is approximately 6.2 m long and 0.56 m wide, with a launch weight of 1,620 kg. It has a single-stage, solid-propellant engine, and four clipped-tip control fins at its base. The accuracy of its inertial guidance system is unknown. The missile is equipped with a single warhead which can be loaded with high explosives (HE), chemical agents, or sub-munitions. It is capable of delivering a payload of 400 kg to a maximum range of 150 km (93 miles). It is reported that two alternative submunitions are available for the Alacran, either 1,020 CAM-1 sub-munitions or 176 MOR-1 antitank and anti-personal grenades.2



According to official Argentine sources the Alacran never reached the production stage or even a feasibility study.3 However, the missile most likely entered service in 1990, four years after the first launch of the Condor 1. It has been reported that Iraq and Egypt received limited amounts of Alacran parts, including solid fuel propulsion, during its development. Iraq and Argentina used Egypt as an intermediary so as to avoid intereference from the Missile Technology Control Regime. Since then, Iran might have purchased Alacran missiles or technology. At present, no evidence exists that the Alacran remains in Argentinean service. Yet there is also no evidence of its dismantlement. These missiles could be in storage and possibly retain operational capability.4

Footnotes

  1. Andrew Feickert, "Missile Survey: Ballistic and Cruise Missiles of Selected Foreign Countries" Congressional Research Service July 26, 2005, 6-12. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL30427.pdf, accessed on June 3, 2008
  2. Duncan Lennox, ed., Jane's Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey: Jane's Information Group, January 2007), 3.
  3. Global Security, "Missile Programs-Argentina," available at http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/argentina/missile.htm, accessed on June 3, 2008.
  4. Lennox, 3; Nuclear Threat Initiative, "Argentina Profile," available at http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Argentina/Missile, accessed on June 3, 2008.

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