April 3, 2006 :: News
Iran has test-fired what it referred to as a “Fajr-3” missile on Friday, March 31, claiming that the missile has the capability to avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously. According to Gen. Hossein Salami, air force chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the Fajr-3 was launched as large military maneuvers began in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. The test is one of several part of a series of Iranian wargames.
Some television and media reports, citing little or no evidence, have suggested that the missile tested could have a comparable range to Iran’s longer-range ballistic missile, the Shahab-3, which can travel 2,000 km. But previous intelligence reports indicate that Iran has used the designation “Fajr-3” to reference one of its many artillery rockets, one with an estimated range of only 45 km (approximately 25 miles). If this Fajr-3 is in fact the “ballistic missile” that the Revolutionary Guards test-fired, then Iran would seem to have attracted worldwide attention for a test of apparently little significance.
A number of sources dispute Iran’s technical claims for the Fajr-3, however, regardless of whether it is anything more than upgraded artillery. Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Russia, speculated that “most probably it is a clone of a Chinese missile or Chinese and old Soviet technologies combined,” which would make the missile “interceptable and predictable.” He added that “there is hardly any realistic ground” to Iran’s statement that the missile is able to strike multiple targets. Pukhov therefore believes that Iran is “fighting the U.S. on the information front.” (Article)
» Defense News: Uzi Rubin doubts Iranian claims of indigenous technology
» Russian Expert Disputes Iranian claims
» Fajr-3 description from Globalsecurity.org
» NTI Description of Fajr artillery
» More stories on: Iran, Testing - Foreign
