[Defense News] Uzi Rubin - On Nov. 12, Iran launched a new type of long-range ballistic missile, the Sajil. Its appearance is living testimony to the failure of the world community to curb the trade in missile technology, not to speak of curbing the malicious ambitions of Iran's mullahs. This is a brand-new missile, an original design more advanced than anything available to the North Koreans, and it signifies Iran's graduation into world-level missilery. Its range is longer than the Shahab-3 - 2,400 kilometers - which makes the new missile capable of reaching - besides every capital city of the Middle East - Moscow, Warsaw, and the outskirts of Vienna and St. Petersburg. The appearance of the Sajil highlights Iran's single-minded pursuit of ballistic missile capability in every conceivable technology. This is the second multistage Iranian rocket program to surface, following the two-stage Safir space launcher that first flew last August. This diversity and tempo of development is almost unparalleled. All this for conventional warheads? It also highlights the limits of nonproliferation since its large-diameter solid propulsion system requires a host of special technologies and machines whose export is strictly controlled by the Missile Technology Control Regime. It is inconceivable that Iran developed such technologies on its own. In spite of all the export controls, someone sold them to Iran. It is time to move from nonproliferation to counterproliferation, including missile defense. The writer oversaw the development of Israel's Arrow anti-missile defense system.
2008-11-26 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive