IRAN

[Cookiely]

Saber rattling or getting prepared?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/ ... /index.htm
Can someone explain about the bomb that has multiple war heads. I'm not sure I understand. I thought a nuclear bomb was one bomb. Do they have a nuclear bomb that carrries bomblets? Or do they mean the plane can drop multiple bombs with different trajectories and targets. What's with the motorcycles?l

[streetsoldier]

A balllistic missile may carry as many as ten individually-targeted warheads: one missile, multiple warheads.

Ahneedanosejob seems to be flexing his muscles.

[conestogo_flood]

Anyone worried about Tuesday? Quite a bit of speculation Iran might be planning something August 22.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Living in fear and dread is playing into their hands, and just what they'd love us to do; living alertly, maintaining a sense of awareness at all times, but going on with our lives without a sense of panic, is what we should be doing.

JMO

A2K

[The Sandcrab]

Iran doesn't have a nuclear bomb and not all Iranians want one. Arguments against include the expense, the roadblocks for the nuclear power program and the "unwanted negative attention."

The missile is the delivery sytem for the warhead, the part that blows up. The multiple technology is called MIRV (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle), and it's for ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles), not Katyushas. The article was gone, Cookie, so I couldn't read it, but if Iran had MIRVing ICBMs and nukes it would be breaking news. They're a couple of years from the warheads and their most likely supplier for an ICBM, North Korea, can't get theirs to work and some say the design of the Taepodong II is fatally flawed.

Back to MIRVing. Originally, it served two purposes, more bang for the buck per missile and skirting early arms limitation talks, which regulated # of missiles, not warheads. Only the US, Russia, and France do it. China has the technology but it's debated whether they employ it or not, India is trying. This is VERY high tech stuff. Iran has claimed a multiple strike capability (3) in April w/the Fajrs, but it would be in an altogether different league(MIRV requires satellite guidance). Anybody know if Hezbollah claimed it or Israel documented it?

[Brent]

I think it's just to annoy us and test our patience... much like the North Korean missile tests last month.

[Cookiely]

Iran tests short-range missile
Military training plane catches fire, crashes outside Tehran

Sunday, August 20, 2006; Posted: 10:16 a.m. EDT (14:16 GMT)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran test-fired a surface-to-surface short-range missile, while a military training plane crashed outside the capital Tehran after catching fire, state-run television reported Sunday.

The missile testing came a day after Iran launched a series of large-scale military maneuvers geared at introducing the country's new defensive doctrine.

"Saegheh, the missile, has a range of between 80 to 250 kilometers," state-run television said. It said the missile was tested in the Kashan desert, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of the capital of Tehran.

Saegheh means lightning in Farsi.

Authorities said the military plane that crashed on Sunday after catching fire was not taking part in the maneuvers. It did not elaborate.

The broadcast said the plane was making an emergency landing on a highway in northeast Tehran but it crashed after a wing of the plane hit a water reservoir and burst into flames.

The television said the only pilot in the plane parachuted safely.

Iran has routinely held war games over the past two decades to improve its combat readiness and to test equipment such as missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.

But the new tests, in the wake of the Lebanon-Hezbollah fighting, seemed certain to create new tensions with the West. (Full story)

State-run television said the missile was built based on domestic know-how, although outside experts say much of the country's missile technology originated from other countries.

State-run TV showed video of 10 missiles being launched from mobile launching pads.

Iran said its new military exercises launched Saturday are being held in 14 of the country's 30 provinces and could last as long as five weeks, the government has said.

The Islamic Republic, which views the United States as an arch foe, is concerned about the U.S. military presence in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also has expressed worry about Israeli threats to destroy its nuclear facilities, which the West contends could be used to make a bomb but which Iran insists are for civilian uses only.

Iran is already equipped with the Shahab-3 missile, which means "shooting star" in Farsi; it is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. An upgraded version of the ballistic missile has a range of more than 2,000 kilometers and can reach Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Last year, former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said Tehran had successfully tested a solid fuel motor for the Shahab-3, a technological breakthrough for the country's military.

Iran's military test-fired a series of missiles during large-scale war games in the Persian Gulf in March and April, including a missile it claimed was not detectable by radar that can use multiple warheads to hit several targets simultaneously.

After decades of relying on foreign weapons purchases, Iran's military has been working to boost its domestic production of armaments.

Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and a fighter plane, the government has said. It announced in early 2005 that it had begun production of torpedoes.