First Steps

The history of the Al-Hussein missile is closely related to the formation and work of what was known in Iraq as Project 144. What follows is a brief review of these two developments.

In 1985, Iran began to attack Baghdad with its arsenal of Scud missiles. Iraq's inability to respond—Teheran was some 600km from the Iraqi border, well beyond the range of Iraq's own Scuds—led to what Iraqis have described as a "politically intolerable" situation. Efforts to procure intermediate-range missiles from the Soviet Union were unsuccessful and the Badr program was still in its infancy; Iraq, therefore, decided that it must look internally for a longer-range missile capability.

In mid-1986, a group was formed under the direction of Gen. Amer Al-Saadi, then Deputy President of the State Organization for Technical Industries (SOTI), to explore various options. In late 1996, the group determined that the most expedient approach would be to extend the range of existing Scud/8K14 missiles by simultaneously increasing engine burn time and reducing payload mass. Iraq's national leadership agreed, and efforts towards this end began.

Two small groups were formed to more carefully explore the issue of range extension. The first was attached to the Ministry of Defense's Scientific Research and Technical Development group, to whom SOTI reported, and was generally composed of missile engineers. The second group reported to Hussein Kamil, and was composed primarily of missile specialists from the armed forces. Meanwhile, the Technical Battalion of Unit 224—the Scud missile brigade—provided workspaces at Taji, a launcher, a cut-away missile and, shortly after work began, combat missiles. Although the groups were competitive and did initially come up with different solutions to the technical problems at hand, they did cooperate on a variety of issues as work progressed. Moreover, they both operated under tremendous time pressures, as Saddam Hussein and the national leadership continued to demand a riposte to Iranian attacks.

On 11 February 1987, the SOTI team launched a Scud with a reduced weight warhead, the first test under the extended range program; the test was a failure. Shortly thereafter, on 21 April 1987, the group led by Hussein Kamil conducted its first test. Their prototype consisted of a reduced payload Scud with an extended airframe and, hence, extended engine burn time. This test was also a failure.

At the beginning of the program, and throughout this initial test phase, an argument raged amongst the specialists regarding the appropriate modifications necessary to achieve the 600km plus result. Following the February and April failures, the argument was effectively won by those suggesting that several modifications to the guidance system were required (as opposed to only dropping warhead mass and increasing burn times). Accordingly, engineers implemented these modifications and a third test was conducted on 28 April 1987. The missile flew to a range of 450 kilometers, and the flight was deemed a success.

Following this test, the two groups were merged under Hussein Kamil, though day-to-day direction was provided by Gen. Amer. After conquering a series of technical and other problems, a fourth prototype missile was prepared. On 3 August 1987, this modified missile was flight-tested and the missile flew to 615 kilometers. Thus, Iraq had validated the basic design of its longer-range system. Shortly thereafter, the new missile was dubbed "Al-Hussein."

Formation of Project 144 and Al-Hussein Production

Just before the successful test, Iraq had begun a re-organization of its military industry. Under the 1 August 1987 "Law of Military Industrialization," the new Military Industrialization Commission (under Hussein Kamil) replaced SOTI; MIC was thereafter organizationally responsible for much of Iraq's military research and production, including the missile program.

Meanwhile, and based on the August test, Iraqi engineers were ready to refine the prototype: to accomplish this mission—and in keeping with the broader changes in military industrialization—the research group was transferred to MIC control and became the Bureau of Research and Engineering Applications. It was this Bureau that was put in charge of the new Project 144 which, among its many objectives, was tasked with bringing the Al-Hussein to production. Project 144 established its headquarters at Taji and assumed control of the workshops previously used by the research teams.

At the time of the reorganization, the Al-Hussein project had one modification line and employed some 50 people. This was quickly to change, as additional personnel were recruited and trained and additional Scud modification lines were added: two by September 1987 and a total of four by December 1987. Meanwhile, engineers continued the flight test program—experimenting with warhead configurations, fin extensions and basic design—including three tests in September, and two each in October, November and December. The 13th and final test in the research and development phase took place on 28 December 1987 (an additional test took place in February 1988 to prove an indigenously produced warhead). With this test, Iraqi engineers determined that the missile's design had been validated: the Al-Hussein was ready for war.

The early evening of 29 February 1988 saw the first Al-Husseins fired in anger. Over a six-week period, 189 of the modified Scuds were launched against Teheran and five other Iranian cities in a missile duel that became known as the "War of the Cities." By that time, the project had six modification lines running simultaneously and had perfected the process such that the conversion of 8k14 to Al-Husseins was four to three. Later, Iraq made still more improvements to the process, and achieved a 1:1 ratio.

Following the war, Iraq made additional modifications to the Al-Hussein, to include the "Short" Al-Hussein and the Al-Hijara (concrete warhead). In April 1990, Iraq flight-tested an Al-Hussein equipped with a chemical warhead, and two months later, an Al-Hussein with a separable warhead.

	Updated October 2003