Abstract:
In March 1997, Iraq reportedly transferred production plans for the al-Taw'han (Fire Ray) medium-range air-to-air missile to Yugoslavia's state-owned Vazduhoplovna Industryja. Twenty-one missile experts from a Brazilian firm directed by Hugo de Oliveira Piva traveled to Iraq in the late-1980s to develop the Fire Ray missile for use with Iraqi fighter aircraft. The project to develop the 40km-range Fire Ray was headed by Military Industry Minister Kamal al-Majid, cousin and son-in-law of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Iraq reportedly transferred the plans for the missile under the terms of a military technology cooperation agreement signed in 1996 by Hussein and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Yugoslavia planned to test-launch domestically produced prototypes of the missile by March 1998, and produce 120 missiles between September 1998 and March 2000. Lacking the necessary production resources, Yugoslavia has postponed testing the Fire Ray and has been unable to complete a single prototype. Work on the Fire Ray missile in Iraq was interrupted by the 1990-91 Gulf War. However, a former member of the Brazilian embassy mission in Iraq said, "the technological patrimony was preserved and now it is also in the hands of the Yugoslavs."