Subordinate to: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Other Names: Shahrud and Shargfabad
Location: Latitude 36° 25' North; longitude 55° 01' East; province of Semnan
Primary Function: Missile test range.
Description and Activities:
Shahroud is located along the Tehran-Mashhad railway, in the province of Semnan. It is considered to be Iran's main missile test range. This is a replacement site for a missile test range originally conceived at Rafsanjan, part of a joint Iran-Israel missile project codenamed "Operation Flower." Construction began at Rafsanjan but was never completed; the site was moved to Shahroud in order to implement longer range missile tests than would have been possible at the original location. The Shahroud site is not known to have been used in the Iranian missile program.
Over a three-month period in 1999, a series of tests were observed suggesting the imminent launch of a multi-stage missile, according to one source; precisely which missile is unclear--although the Shehab 4 was favored. There has not been a successful launch meanwhile, however, suggesting these tests may have been evaluative, leading to the possible abandonment of the Shehab 4 program in favor of developing the Shehab 5 or 6.
Key Sources: John Pike, "Shahroud/Shargfabad," <http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iran/facility/shahroud.htm>; John Pike, "Shahab-4," <http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iran/missile/shahab-4.htm>; "Hardball over Iranian Jews," The Iran Brief, 6 July 1999, via Lexis-Nexis, <http://www.lexis-nexis.com>; Anthony Cordesman, "Iran and Nuclear Weapons," CSIS Middle East Studies Program, 17 May 2000.
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Updated May 2004 |
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