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Iran's Missile ForcesIran started its missile development program in earnest during its long and costly war with Iraq. At times, throughout the war Iran found that it could not strike certain Iraqi facilities or targets with its own forces. This resulted in an ambitious missile development programme that is still continuing today. At present, Iran's ballistic missile forces are the second largest in the third world. History The development of Iran's missile programme can be divided into three chronological stages: Pre-revolution (1977-1979); Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988); and Post War (1989-Present). Early developments under the Shah Pahlavi (1977-1979) The first traces of Iran's missile programme date back to the late 1970s. In July 1977, Iranian Vice Minister of War General H. Toufanian travelled to Israel and met with Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Minister of Defense Ezer Weizmann. Together they laid the foundations for "Project Flower." http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Iran/Missile/index.html#fn1. The project was destined to result in the joint development of a longer ranged (150-200km) and more heavily armed version of the Israeli Gabriel anti-ship missile. The following year, Iran and Israel began the project: A team of Iranian experts began construction of a missile assembly facility near Sirjan, in south central Iran, and a missile test range near Rafsanjan. In 1979 the Iranian Revolution caused the Iranian monarchy to collapse. Project Flower died with it. Islamic Revolution and the War With Iraq (1980-1988) Post War Expansion (1988-Present) Building on technology, and experience, obtained through the war with Iraq, a full scale missile program was developed to bring the country up to par, and possibly ahead of its regional rivals. The initial focus of the program was to develop long-range rocket artillery systems and basic missiles within two key areas solid fuelled systems and rocket fuelled systems. SOLID FUEL PROGRAM: The foundations for this were laid with the Oghab and Shahin-II missiles. These would lead the way for a number of other rocket artillery systems including Fajr, Nazeat, and ZelZal. The initial effort in this area relied heavily on technical help from the People's Republic of China in the form of assembly and manufacturing contracts during 1991 and 1992. Iran was quick to surpass the Chinese level of assistance and became self sufficient. LIQUID FUEL PROGRAM: After the war, Iran's experience of liquid fuel missiles had purely focused on the reverse engineering of Scud-B missiles. However, with the post war reorganisation the focus of the effort quickly changed and focused on assembly and maintenance. A domestic version of the Scud-B, known as Shahab-1, was developed and manufactured. This led to its successor the Shahab-2, a variant of the Scud-C, and finally the Shahab-3. All these programs relied heavily on Russian and North Korean assistance, however over time this assistance has decreased dramatically and Iran has been forced to develop its own capabilities. Since the end of the war, Iran has consistently attempted to recruit foreign help, as well as its large and highly qualified expatriate population, into it's missile program. Iranian expatriates who left with the revolution have been slow to return, but many are now doing so and thus heralding a new age for Iran's missile development programme with their tremendous wealth of technical experience. Missiles See also External links
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