What they want you to think: “The IRGC’s smart ballistic missiles are now in mass-production and this type of missiles can hit and destroy targets with high-precision,” Jafari told reporters in a news conference here in Tehran on Monday. “These new missiles enjoys supersonic speed and cannot be tracked or intercepted by enemy,” the commander…
According to some reports from various locations (I’ll begin with Hudson Institute’s as that is where I first read it with a h/t to Xformed for his heads-up) it would appear that back in October, Iran and Venezuela signed an agreement that, among other things, would establish a joint base in Venezuela as well as…
Last month Iran unveiled a new long-range missile, the Simorgh, as a follow-on to the Safir SLV. Putatively identified as a space launch vehicle, it bears strong familial ties to the TD-2 prototype SLV/ICBM launched last April (2009). Since then, some analysts have noted that while the airframe has made an appearance sooner than the…
 We are about one-third of the way through Iran’s annual “Ten Days of Dawn†observation which celebrates the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran and the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The occasion serves as a platform for Iran to boast about progress under the Islamic Republic and demonstrate military, scientific…
Gulf BMD Deployments Lots in the news today – let’s start in the Gulf: US officials have let it be known that it now has Patriot batteries in four Gulf states – Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. US anti-missile ships are also being stationed in the Gulf. All this comes as the…
(aka Sejil-2) Iran’s new MRBM and the latest complication in the brewing nuclear arms race in the Middle East: WASHINGTON (AP) – The missile test-fired by Iran is the longest-range solid-propellant missile it has launched yet, a U.S. government official said Wednesday, raising concerns about whether the sophistication of Tehran’s missile program is increasing. The U.S….
Previous: The Missiles of Winter (I): International Conventions March 1985. In the high desert, west of Tehran, an element of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Air Force (IRGC AF) is going about their business in the early morning darkness. The object of their attention is a SCUD-B SRBM fixed to a MAZ-543P transporter-erector launcher, both…
If news reports coming from South Korea and echoed through the West are to be believed, North Korea is moving towards another attempt at launching a Taepo Dong – 2 IR/ICBM, ostensibly as a space launch vehicle (SLV). This would be the third such attempt, with previous attempts in July 2006 and Sept 1998 ending…
Comes word over night of an apparently successful attempt by Iran to place a satellite in orbitusing the Safir-2 space launch vehicle (SLV). The Safir (“Ambassador”) was ingeniously developed as part of Iran’s growing rocket and missile program and has direct links to its attempts to develop extended range missiles in the IRBM and ultimately,…
The term tipping point describes a point at which a slow gradual change becomes irreversible and then proceeds with gathering pace. It is derived from the metaphor of a rigid solid object being tilted to a point where it begins to topple. Couple of observations from the region… Iran to launch 1st domestic satellite soon…
