May 23, 2012

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Scud B variant

Country:  Libya
Associated Country:  Iran, North Korea, Egypt,
Class:  SRBM
Basing:  Road mobile
Length:  11.25 m
Diameter:  0.88 m
Launch Weight:  5900 kg
Payload:  Single warhead
Warhead:  HE, chemical
Propulsion:  Single-stage liquid
Range:  300 km
Status:  Operational
In Service:  1976-present

Details

The Libyan ‘Scud B’ variant is a short-range, road mobile, liquid propellant ballistic missile. It is believed that Libya purchased 240 Russian ‘Scud B’ missiles with 80 TEL units in 1976.  It has been reported that as many as 7,000 ‘Scud’ missiles have been built in Russia and that the ‘Scud B’ missiles and improved variants have been built in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria and either imported or manufactured in Libya. In 2003 Libya announced that it would discontinue WMD projects and reduce the range of its ballistic missiles to 300 km with a payload of 500 kg. Assuming that the Libyan 'Scud B' missiles are unmodified, they are capable of traveling 300km with a 985 kg payload, so dropping the payload to 500 kg would considerably increase range. It is not clear how the Scud missiles will be modified to lower their maximum range.

 

Several different warheads were developed for the ‘Scud B’ missile including nuclear 5-70 kT, chemical, and conventional HE. The Russian ‘Scud B’ is 11.25 m long, 0.88 m in diameter and has a launch weight of 5,900 kg, and a range of 300 km (186.411 miles) with an accuracy of 450 m CEP. The Libyan ‘Scud’ likely takes advantage of Egyptian, North Korean and Iranian assistance and has an increased range to as much as 400 km (248.548 miles). It is reported that the Libyan military was attempting to develop a chemical warhead for the system. A typical ‘Scud B’ takes approximately one hour to finish a single launch sequence.

 

‘Scud B’ missiles have been exported to: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Egypt, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Libya, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Syria, UAE, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Yemen. Unconfirmed reports between 1996 and 2000 have suggested that Scud-B missiles have been purchased by Armenia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Pakistan, Peru, and the Sudan.

 

Whether modified or unmodified, it is believed that all 240 'Scud B' missiles are still in storage in Libya.(1)

 

Footnotes

 

  1. Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems, Issue 50, ed. Duncan Lennox (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2009), 105.

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