Iran
Isfahan Missile Complex
About
The Isfahan Missile Complex is Iran’s largest missile assembly and production site. 1 Built with North Korean and Chinese assistance in the late 1980s, the facility manufactures solid and liquid propellants, missile components, and assembles Shahab and Chinese HY-2 Silkworm and M-Class missiles. 2
A 2001 report alluded to two research and development facilities near Isfahan and Tehran where scientists were working with Russian SS-4 missile technology, which Iran has used to develop the Shahab-4 system. 3 While Tehran asserts the Shahab-4 is exclusively designed to serve as a satellite-launch vehicle, many Western experts allege that Iran developed the technology to serve as a long-range weapons delivery capability. 4
Sources
- Anthony H. Cordesman and Adam C. Seitz, Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Birth of a Regional Arms Race (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2009), p. 151.
- Between 1990 and 1991, China reportedly assisted Iran in establishing production sites for HY-2 Silkworm and M-Class missiles. Iran’s Ballistic Missile Capabilities: A Net Assessment, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2010, p. 49; Gordon Jacobs and Tim McCarthy, “China’s Missile Sales - Few Changes for the Future,” Jane’s Intelligence Review, December 1992, www.janes.com.
- “Iran Specifies New Weapons Mix,” Aviation Week and Space Technology, 26 March 2001, www.aviationweek.com.
- Philip Sherwell, “Russia Adds Range to Iran’s Latest Missiles,” The Telegraph, 10 November 2002, www.telegraph.co.uk.