Other Names: Mahmudiya Small Arms Plant; Al-Qadisiya Small Arms Plant
Location: Babil governate, Yusifiya, approximately 25km south of Baghdad
Subordinate to: Military Industrialization Commission
Primary Function: Mass production and repair of small arms; production of plastic components for Ababil-50 and Al-Samoud; stainless steel pressing used in Al-Samoud engine

Description:
The plant occupied a large site containing some 40 buildings, including machining, plastic injection, and welding workshops. It was designed and was maintained as a production and repair facility for small arms, anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft artillery, and recoilless weapon systems. In the missile area, the plant made plastic, glass fiber, and phenolic resin components for the Ababil-50 and the Al-Samoud missiles, including nozzles, nose tips, and insulator parts. Prior to Desert Storm, Al-Qadisiya produced the corrugated rings for the Scud engine. Although the site was adjacent to the Al-Furat Centrifuge Production Plant it had no association with that facility. Some 1,500 employees worked at the site, including perhaps 50 engineers.

According to a report in the Washington Post, Al-Qadissiya served as the command post for the 101st Airborne, prior to the division's movement north. The site was scheduled to be the headquarters for the Mobile Exploitation Team/75th Exploitation Task Force, the unit searching for weapons of mass destruction, but it was burned and looted in late April 2003.

Key Sources: UN inspection data; Barton Gellman, "Looting is Double Loss for U.S. Forces," Washington Post, 28 April 2003, p. A12.

	Updated October 2003