SCUD BALLISTIC MISSILES

Iraq's short-range terror weapon was designed for mobile war

- WORDS STUART HADAWAY

Scud ballistic missiles were perhaps the most feared weapon in Saddam Hussein's arsenal in 1991. ‘Scud’ became a generic term for the 1961-designed R-17 Short-Range Ballistic Missile (NATO reporting name: Scud-B) and the locally produced al-Husayn variant. To reach strategic targets in Iran during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), the Iraqis doubled the Scud-B's range by lightening the warhead to 1,102lb (500kg) and increasing the propellent chamber, although at the cost of accuracy. The resulting al-Husayn was specifically designed with a modified thruster profile to land a warhead anywhere within 400 miles (645km) of Iraq's borders in just eight minutes of flight time – a radius that included Riyadh, Bahrain, Qatar and Tel Aviv.

Equipped with conventional, chemical or biological warheads, Scud missiles became a fixation for the Coalition forces during the Gulf War (1990-91). Highly mobile, easy to hide in pre-prepared positions or spoof with carefully prepared decoys, and operating in a huge desert, attempting to locate and disable these elusive weapons consumed significant amounts of resources. Hundreds of Coalition aircraft sorties and numerous Special Forces teams scoured Iraq’s western desert for Scud launchers with remarkably little success, with very few recorded attacks and no confirmed destructions of launchers.

Neither the Scuds or al-Husayns were particularly accurate, and while 93 were launched at targets in Saudi Arabia, Israel and Bahrain, they generally met with little physical success. Their main achievement was psychological and in the propaganda war, boosting Iraqi morale while remaining a constant concern for the Coalition at all levels.

POTENT WARHEAD

The al-Husayn’s warhead was relatively small but lethal, and its capability to deliver chemical or biological ordnance was a particularly serious threat.

AREA WEAPON