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 |  Sujet: Iran - new missile tests Sam 15 Fév 2014 - 18:04 | |
| Iran announces new missile testsJeremy Binnie, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly - 13 February 2014  A still from Iranian television showing an Su-25 carrying two Bina laser-guided missiles.
Source: IRIB- Read more :
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- Key Points
The Barani ballistic missile Iran says it has tested appears to be a reference to a warhead with a submunition payload.
Iran announced it had used ballistic missiles with submunition payloads in 2006, but may be working on ways to release the bomblets above the engagement envelope of some defensive systems.
A still from the Iranian television footage showing a computer-generated simulation of the Barani missile deploying around 30 re-entry vehicles in space. (IRIB)
A still from the Iranian television footage showing a computer-generated simulation of the Barani missile deploying around 30 re-entry vehicles in space. (IRIB)
Iran has announced that it has tested a new submunition warhead that will reduce the vulnerability of its ballistic missiles to defensive systems.
The Iranian Ministry of Defence said on 10 February that it had marked the eve of the anniversary of the 1979 revolution by successfully testing two new missiles, one of which, the Barani, was described as a "new generation of long-range ballistic missiles carrying multiple re-entry vehicle [MRV] payloads".
The Fars News Agency quoted Defence Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan as saying: "Evading enemy's anti-missile defence systems, the capability of destroying massive targets and destroying multiple targets are specifications of this missile."
Iranian television broadcast footage that appeared to show a Shahab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) being launched. It then cut to computer-generated footage of two ballistic missiles each releasing around 30 re-entry vehicles in space.
The other missile, the Bina, appeared to be an AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile with a semi-active laser (SAL) seeker fitted to its nose. The Iranian television package showed the missile being launched from a Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft and a ground-based launch rail. "This missile is capable of precisely hitting important targets, including bridges, tanks, military hardware and enemy command centres," Gen Dehghan said.
Iran unveiled its Bina laser-guided missile on 10 February. It appears to be an AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile with a semi-active laser (SAL) seeker fitted to its nose. (Tasnim News Agency)
Iran unveiled its Bina laser-guided missile on 10 February. It appears to be an AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile with a semi-active laser (SAL) seeker fitted to its nose. (Tasnim News Agency)
The missile test announcement came after a group of hardline MPs criticised President Hassan Rowhani for cancelling the annual 'Great Prophet' exercise, which is normally a showcase for Iran's ballistic missile capabilities.
Israeli Foreign Minister said the announcement demonstrated that Iran had not moderated its policies under Rowhani. "The new missile tests conducted by Iran yesterday are further proof its intentions have not changed and the Iranians are not even hiding their being a warmongering state," he said.
There appears to be some confusion as to whether Iran's ballistic missile programme will be addressed by the current negotiations between Tehran and the international community. "We have said that the UN Security Council resolution has to be addressed and ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear weapon are part of that consideration," US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told a Senate hearing on 4 February.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi responded by saying that Iran's defence programmes would not be discussed as part of the ongoing talks with the international community. "We will in no way allow anyone to introduce topics other than the nuclear issue, especially matters related to our defensive affairs in the talks," he told Press TV.
US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee on 11 February that Iran was expected to test "a missile system that could potentially have ICBM-class range": a possible reference to the Simorgh satellite launch vehicle (SLV) that Iran is working on. He added that Iran's missile programmes were not currently receiving any foreign assistance, noting that it has had an "on-again, off-again" relationship with North Korea.
ANALYSIS
An Iranian IRBM carrying a MRV payload could only be defeated by boost phase or exo-atmospheric interceptors that are capable of engaging them before they deploy their warheads. Endo-atmospheric interceptors such as the Raytheon MIM-104 Patriot series would struggle to destroy all the MRVs in their terminal phase.
However, it is extremely unlikely that Iran has developed a MRV payload like the one shown in the computer-generated television footage. The 30 re-entry vehicles would each weigh around 10 kg and would be extremely difficult to stabilise and insulate, so they survive the journey back through the atmosphere.
The Iranian media reports of MRV payloads are more likely to be references to a warhead that releases submunitions after it has re-entered the atmosphere. Iran announced that it had this capability in November 2006, when the Islamic Revolution Guards Corp (IRGC) said it had used a Shahab-2 with a cluster warhead containing 1,400 bomblets during the 'Great Prophet 2' exercise.
The unclassified version of the annual US intelligence report on Iranian military capabilities that was submitted to Congress in 2012 noted: "Iran has boosted the lethality and effectiveness of existing systems with accuracy improvements and new submunition payloads."
It is possible that the Iranians are looking at ways of releasing submunition payloads above the altitude at which missiles can be engaged by the Patriots currently deployed in Gulf Arab states. One of the problems is that unguided submunitions released at such a high altitude (Patriot systems are generally said to be able to engage missiles at altitudes of at least 24,000 m) would be very widely dispersed by the time they hit the ground. This would significantly reduce their effectiveness, although could still create significant disruption in the target area.
At the same time, missiles carrying early-release submunitions are still vulnerable to interception by US Navy destroyers fitted with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which has been ordered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
http://www.janes.com/article/33895/iran-announces-new-missile-tests
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