Obama FP successes just keep piling up. And this first item, matters because Iran, according to Pentagon security analysts, is about to test ICBM prototypes
Bill Gertz - GeoStrategy Direct:
IRGC boasts of multiple warhead missiles: Sanctions ‘failed totally’
NICOSIA — Iran has reported the acquistion of multi-warhead missiles.Officials said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps procured indigenous missiles with multiple warheads for tactical and strategic operations. They said the weapons were designed to overcome Israeli and U.S. missile defense networks.
Photo released on March 5 by the Iranian Defense Ministry shows Defense Minister Hussen Dehqan and two IRGC commanders walking past Qader and Qiam missiles at an undisclosed location. AP
"These missiles can destroy enemy targets with precision and answer the different needs of the armed forces," Iranian Defense Minister Hussen Dehqan said.In a ceremony at an air defense base on March 5, Dehqan said the warheads could destroy targets at a range of 2,000 kilometers. He said the multiple warheads would be equipped on the Qiam and Qader H1 missiles, developed over the last three years.Dehqan said Qiam, Qader as well as the Fateh-110 and Khalij Fars were undergoing serial production for IRGC. The defense minister also reported the delivery of the Mersad air defense system."This shows that the comprehensive sanctions of the enemies on our defense sector have failed totally," Dehqan said.Officials described Qader as a liquid-fuel ballistic missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers. Qiam and Fateh-100 were identified as a cruise missile and solid-fuel ballistic missile, respectively. They said Khalij Fars, with a 650-kilogram payload and range of 300 kilometers, represented the most advanced missile of the IRGC Navy."While other missiles mostly traverse at subsonic speeds and in cruise style, Khalij Fars moves vertically after launch, traverses at supersonic speeds, finds the target through a smart program, locks on the target and hit it," Iran’s state-owned Fars News Agency, deemed close to IRGC, said.Pentagon braces for imminent Iran ICBM prototypes
WASHINGTON — Security specialists here are monitoring Iran’s progress toward acquiring intercontinental ballistic missiles that could threaten the West, despite the regime’s rapprochement with U.S.Officials said the U.S. intelligence community has determined that Iran was headed for completion of its first ICBM prototype. They said the weapon, designed to strike the United States, could be tested over the next few months."You heard the testimony over the last month and what the intelligence estimates are on the ability of Iran to test an ICBM by 2015," Missile Defense Agency director James Syring said. "We stand by that."In an address to a defense technology conference on March 4, Syring, a navy vice admiral, said the United States must be prepared for long-range missiles by Iran and North Korea. He said both countries were capable of sending satellites into space, a program that could conceal ICBM development."The numbers are increasing, and the capability of these ballistic missiles is increasing as well," Syring said.Officials have warned of the increasing Iranian and North Korean threat amid cuts in the U.S. ballistic missile defense budget. They cited the need to modernize U.S. BMD networks as well as deploy such systems as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and SM-3."You [can] start to piece together what we’re concerned about, and the threat that is posed by the increasing ballistic missile threat around the world," Syring said.In his address, Syring provided few details of U.S. preparations to counter an Iranian ICBM, expected to eventually contain a nuclear warhead. He cited, however, U.S. encouragement for a Gulf Cooperation Council BMD architecture. The United Arab Emirates has been the first foreign country to order THAAD."I’m confident that with our partners we will come together, and [will] field and answer those calls," Syring said.
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