Iran’s Shahab Missiles
26-Nov-2007
After the Iranian revolution [1] (1979), the Iran - Iraq war [2] (1980) forced Iran to seriously develop its indigenous military forces. Especially that after the 1979 sanctions [3], USA double sanctioned [4] Iran at 1984. Later on countries such as USSR, UK, Germany, France, Canada, Australia and others joint the scheme.
The 1980 Iran was not even able to fulfil its minimum need of simple bullets. After all, building on technology and experience obtained through the war, a full scale missile program was developed to bring the country up to par, and ahead of its regional rivals. Now adays Iran designs, manufactures and exports it’s own guns, missiles, tanks, armoured vehicles, radars, artilleries, helicopters, aircrafts, etc. All possess Iran having world’s second largest ballistic missiles, after China. Also interestingly having its self-designed world’s fastest under-water missile [5], the Hoot [6]! A large number of Iran’s ballistic missiles and long-range artillery rocket systems currently possess the capability to deliver warheads with conventional high explosive, sub-munition, dispersion and etc. This development programme is still ambitiously continuing today. At 1997, I saw myself Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [7] stating on TV that Iran has now the top 10 military forces in the world.
In this article I’ll write the outcome of my researches on Iran’s Shahab family of missiles, which is all done based on my personal curiosity and interest.
[8]
:: Click on image [9] to enlarge ::
To give a glimpse on all these missiles in a single look, I’ve made this following table:
| Shahab 1 | Shahab 2 | Shahab 3 | |
| Type | Tactical SRBM | Tactical SRBM | Strategic MRBM |
| Range (km) |
385 - 330 | 500 - 750 | 2,100 |
| Max speed (km/h) | Unknown | Unknown | 5,500 |
| Warheads [10] (kg) | (1 x) 987 - 1,000 | (1 x) 750 - 989 | (1x) 990 |
| CEP [11] (Circular Error Probable) | 450m | Unknown | 190 - 250m |
| Fuel | Liquid | Liquid | Liquid & Solid |
| Height (m) | 11.18 | 11.37 - 12.29 | 15.89 |
| Diameter (m) | 0.855 | 0.885 | 1.32 - 1.35 |
| Weight (kg) | 5,862 - 5,950 | 6,370 - 6,500 | 15,092 |
| Payload [12] (kg) | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,158 |
| In service year | 1987 | 1990 | 2003 |
| .. |
| Shahab 4 | Shahab 5 | Shahab 6 | |
| Type | Strategic ICBM | LRICBM | Unknown |
| Range (km) |
2,200-2,896 | 3,500 - 4,300 | 5,632 - 10,000 |
| Max speed (km/h) | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| Warheads [13] (kg) | (1 x) 760 - 1,000 | (1 x) 750 - 1,000 | (1 x) 500 - 1,000 |
| CEP [14] (Circular Error Probable) | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| Fuel | Liquid | Liquid | Liquid & Solid |
| Height (m) | 25 | 32 | 32- 35 |
| Diameter (m) | 0.88 - 1.3 | 1.32 - 1.35 | Unknown |
| Weight (kg) | 22,000 | 60,000 | Unknown |
| Payload [15] (kg) | 1,000 | 1,000 | Unknown |
| In service Year | 2004 | 2005 | est. 2009 - 2011 |
(Most of this table’s data has been collected from Federation of American Scientists [16], GlobalSecurity [17] and Wikipedia [18] websites.)
In general the coverage range of Iranian potential ballistic missiles could be figured as follow:
In this between Shahab 4 programme is postponed or even shelved for the meantime. This missile was supposed to be Iran’s first missile to bring satellites into orbit [19] In its place came the IRIS [20] solid propellant missile. Iran has focused on its Shahab 3 and Shahab 6 at the moment. There are four Shahabs came out of Shahab 3, which are Shahab 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D. About Shahab 6; nothing further and accurate has spread out yet.
http://sanaei.com/blog/2007/08/15/irans-shahab-missiles/ [21]