Posted on 05/26/2002 3:56:50 AM PDT by knighthawk
The northern region of the country and parts of the coast are now within range of Iran's Shihab 3 missile due to delays in the construction of an Arrow anti-missile missile base at Ein Shemer, near Pardes Hannah. This information was disclosed at the end of last week by a senior Israeli security officer, who spoke following a recent successful Iranian Shihab 3 test.
The Iranian surface-to-surface missile has a 1,300-kilometer range, and could reach any site in Israel. Officials in Israel believe that Tehran has several such operational missiles.
The Israel-Iranian missile race accelerated after Israel was surprised by Iran's first successful test of a Shihab 3 missile in July 1998. The Iranian missile is based on technology developed in North Korea, which features a warhead that splits in a manner designed to divert an intercepting missile. After the Shihab 3's first tests, Israel realized that it lacks a adequate defense against such splitting warheads. Responding to this threat, security officials decided to set up three Arrow missile bases, to guarantee that the whole country could be defended against missiles launched from Iran. During Yitzhak Mordechai's term as defense minister, Israel received a special $160 million allocation from the U.S. Congress to build the third Arrow battery.
Two and a half years ago, Israel Aircraft Industries, the chief contractor responsible for production of the Arrow, began work on a response to the splitting warhead threat. The adaptations involved changes in the radar system and guidance system; and recently the head of the Homa authority, Aryeh Herzog, announced that the adaptations have been completed, and the Arrow now has the ability to handle the threat of missiles with splitting warheads.
Israel's prime ministers and defense ministers have warned about developments in Iran's surface missile program since the mid-1990s. The U.S. Department of Defense and Israel's Defense Ministry believed that Iran would attain long-range missile delivery capability at the end of 2002 or in early 2003. Officials from the two countries are worried that the Iranian threat could grow by the middle of the current decade, due to the development of a Shihab 4 missile, with a range of 2000 kilometers.
In March 2000, work on the first Arrow missile compound at the Israel Air Force's Palmachim base was completed. By summer 2002, the air force was supposed to declare that second Arrow base, near Ein Shemer, had become operational; but construction work has not started on the missile site, due to a dispute between residents in the area and the Defense Ministry regarding its location. Four years ago, residents in the Pardes Hannah area launched a campaign against the establishment of the Arrow base. The residents, lead by Menashe region council head Ilan Sadeh, oppose the Defense Ministry's plans due to concerns about danger of radiation emanating from the weapon's radar system. The sides agreed to the appointment of attorney Hagi Merom as an arbitrator on the issue; but no compromise has been reached.
The top Israeli security official emphasized yesterday that Iran at this stage has no more than a few operational Shihab 3 missiles. Under some attack scenarios, existing Arrow systems might successfully protect Israel's northern regions, the official said; but such defense is not foolproof.
Iran's latest Shihab 3 test was the weapon's third trial run.
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Tehran, May 26, IRNA -- Defense Minister Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani here Sunday stressed that Iran will pursue its missile program by upgrading Shahab-3.
"As announced already, we will continue our missile program in order to promote the power and precision of Shahab-3 missile which is the latest output of the Defense Ministry in the section of surface-to-surface missiles," he said.
Shamkhani described the latest test of the missile as "successful", but rejected that Iran was intending to build a new Shahab-type missile.
"All the recent tests which were carried out quite successfully were intended to upgrade the missile and are not regarded as a new production or step toward increasing its range," he said.
Iran's plans are centered on the production of Shahab-3 and the country currently is not intending to build new missiles under the names of Shahab-4 or Shahab-5 as claimed by Americans, Shamkhani added.
"American officials have recently repeated their claims that Iran in mid-May successfully tested Shahab-3 which can hit targets inside Israel," he said.
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