Free Republic

The Israeli intelligence community has determined that Hizbullah received a shipment of solid-fuel rockets from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Officials said the solid-fuel rockets were said to have included the Fateh-110, with a range of more than 200 kilometers. "Hizbullah in 2010 is very different to Hizbullah in 2006 in terms of military capability, which has advanced a great deal," Brig. Gen. Yossi Baidatz, a senior Israeli military intelligence officer, said. "Hizbullah is now regarded by the Syrians as a component of their defense establishment." On May 4, Baidatz, head of military intelligence's research department, told the Knesset Foreign...

Israel's military has determined that Syria was producing its first solid-fuel rockets. Officials said the military and intelligence community said the regime of President Bashar Assad has been producing and deploying a variant of an Iranian long-range rocket. They identified the Iranian rocket as the Fateh-110, developed by Teheran nearly a decade ago and supplied to several countries as well as the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah. "This certainly enhances the military capability of Syria from what it was even five years ago," an official said. Syria has taken the Fateh-110 and developed an enhanced variant. Officials said the upgraded weapon, termed M-600,...

(News Focus) N. Korea likely to have improved missile fuel technology By Sam Kim SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korea may have advanced its fuel type and injection systems for its long-range ballistic missile, allowing its leader Kim Jong-il greater freedom in choosing when to go ahead with a launch, officials and missile experts said Thursday. North Korea said this week it is engaged in full-scale preparations to launch a space satellite that its neighbors believe is actually a missile capable of threatening Alaska and Hawaii. It took the North Korean authorities several days to inject liquid fuel into...

N.Korea tested advanced missiles: U.S. general By Jon Herskovitz 1 hour, 20 minutes ago SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's recent tests of short-range missiles were successful launches of an advanced weapon that can be fired at little notice to strike targets in South Korea, the commander of U.S. Forces in South Korea said on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT North Korea tested at least three short-range missiles over the past month, with the latest test last week coming as U.N. nuclear inspectors were in the country as a part of a disarmament deal. "These (missiles) are modern, solid-fuel, which means that they are...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Col. Edward N. Hall, who as director of the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile program helped develop the country's solid-fuel rocket technology, putting the United States decades ahead of other superpowers, has died. He was 91. Hall died Sunday at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, said his daughter, Sheila Hall of Calabasas. The cause of death was not immediately known. Thanks to Hall's immense knowledge of rocket propellants, the Air Force created its first solid-fuel ICBM in the late 1950s. His work helped switch the country's missiles from liquid fuel to solid fuel, which made them smaller, easier...

Iran's missiles on a solid footing By David Isenberg WASHINGTON - On May 31, Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani announced that Iran had successfully tested a solid-fuel motor for its medium-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile. Further details of just what was tested remain unclear, but the test is significant because if it truly was successful, it would represent an important breakthrough for the Islamic republic's missile program. To develop a missile with a range greater than 2,000 kilometers - in effect, a two-stage rocket that separates in mid-flight - Iran would need to master the more complex solid-fuel technology. This is...

French connection armed Saddam By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES The United States stood by for years as supposed allies helped its enemies obtain the world's most dangerous weapons, reveals Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, in the new book "Treachery" (Crown Forum). In this excerpt, he details France's persistence in arming Saddam Hussein. First of three excerpts New intelligence revealing how long France continued to supply and arm Saddam Hussein's regime infuriated U.S. officials as the nation prepared for military action against Iraq. The intelligence reports showing French assistance to Saddam ongoing in the...

BEIJING, Sept. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- China has successfully test-fired its first four-stage solid-fuel launch vehicle capable of putting small satellites into space, a spokesperson for the developer said on Wednesday. The spokesperson for China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp (CASIC) said that the successful test on Sept. 16 at north China's Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center makes China the third country in the world capable of developing such rockets after the United States and Russia. The newly-developed rocket is capable of putting up to 100-kg satellites into orbit around the earth for resources exploration, environmental monitoring and survey, scientific experiments...