The al-Hijarah missile was an Iraqi liquid propelled inertial Short-range ballistic missile, it was also a Scud missile and considered an upgrade of the al-Hussein missile equipped with chemical warheads.[1] It was developed by 1990[2] and was first used in the Persian Gulf War where the al-Hijarah missile would release poison gas clouds and kill personnel on the ground, as well as ignite oil wells.[1] One al-Hijarah missile was confirmed to have been fired at Israel during the Gulf War where one landed near Dimona, it was revealed that the missile had a concrete filled warhead.[1]
| al-Hijarah | |
|---|---|
| Type | Short-range ballistic missile |
| Place of origin | Iraq[1][2][3] |
| Specifications | |
| Payload capacity | 100-300 kg[2][3] chemical warhead |
| Propellant | Liquid-propelled[3] |
Operational range | 700-900 km[2][3] |
Guidance system | Inertial |
| References | |
Characteristics
editThe al-Hijarah missile warhead was probably filled with chemical weapons and biological weapons possessed by Iraq at that time like anthrax, botulinum toxin, aflatoxin, sarin, cyclosarin and VX nerve agent.[citation needed] The al-Hijarah missile being a version of the al Hussein also suffered from flight instability and improper guidance.[3] Iraq itself at that time was almost fully indigenous when it came to ballistic missile components and only lacked the ability to locally manufacture Gyroscopes.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Al Hussein/al-Husayn". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019.
- ^ a b c d "Ballistic Missiles in Iran's Military Thinking". Wilson Center. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Iraq". NTI. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019.