Syrian missile technicians traveled to North Korea for two weeks of training in 1996. While it is likely that this training was mainly connected to Syria's burgeoning Scud-C program, it is also probable that the Syrians were interested in the more advanced North Korean Nodong missile, also known as the Scud-D.[1]
By late May 2000, reports indicate that Syria had received an unspecified number of Scud-Ds from North Korea. These may have been a shipment comprised of 50 Scud-Ds and seven transporter-erector-launchers (TELs) sent from the North Korean firm Ch'ongchon'gang sometime in 2000. Some or all of these missiles may have been procured on behalf of Iraq, Egypt and/or Libya.[2]
The Scud-D is a single-stage ballistic missile with a CEP (circular error of probability) of 3km. It offers a range of 700km, which provides the Syrians with the capability to strike any location in Israel from deep within Syria's borders.[3] The Scud-D also may deliver chemical or biological warheads. The military editor of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Ze'ev Schiff, said of this new acquisition, "What is certain is that Syria has taken a great leap forward in terms of its missile arsenal."[4]
Syria conducted a successful flight test of a Scud-D on 23 September 2000.[5] As of late 2002, four tunnels to harbor Scud-D launchers were reportedly hollowed out in Syria.[6] The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reported in 2003 that Syria continued to develop longer-range missile programs such as the Scud-D with assistance from North Korea and Iran.[7]
Meanwhile, in April 2004, Western intelligence officials alleged that Syria was flying shipments of Scud-C and Scud-D missiles, as well as weapons of mass destruction components, to Khartoum in Sudan aboard civilian airliners. These shipments were reportedly directed by the Syrian Defense Ministry, while it appears that Sudanese President Omar Bashir was not informed of their presence in Sudan. [8]
[1] Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., "A History of Ballistic Missile Development in the DPRK," Occasional Paper no. 2, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, November 1999, pp. 19, 26, 32.
[2] "North Korea Missile Exports Table," Nuclear Threat Initiative, <http://www.nti.org/>.
[3] "Syria 'gets new Scud,'" BBC News, 30 May 2000, <http://www.news.bbc.co/>.
[4] "Syria 'gets new Scud,'" BBC News, 30 May 2000.
[5] Ch'oe Hong Sžp, "'[Israel] Pukhan-Chungdong Missile Connection Magara'," Chugan Chosun, 12 April 2001, http://www.weekly.chosun.com; Joseph Cirincione, Deadly Arsenals: Tracking Weapons of Mass Destruction (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2002), p. 85; Anthony Cordesman, "Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East," 15 April 2003, <http://www.csis.org/burke/mb/me_wmd_regionaltrends.pdf/>.
[6] Anthony Cordesman, "Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East," 15 April 2003.
[7] "Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions: 1 January Through 30 June 2003, Attachment A," Central Intelligence Agency.
[8] Jim Hauser, "Syria Shipping WMD Components to Sudan," Talon News, 13 April 2004.
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Updated August 2004 |
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