Aside from its work to modify Scuds and to design missiles indigenously, Iraq made several attempts to convert surface-to-air missiles (SAM) into ballistic missiles. The most widely known of these efforts is the so-called "Fahad" conversion program.

Project 144 began work on the Fahad in 1988. The concept involved the Volga/SA-2 SAM flying in a ballistic mode with line of flight provided by the tracking radar, also known as radio-command guidance. Both the booster and sustainer were used, although some modifications to the standard SAM configuration were required. A total of 19 flight-tests were conducted on the program; in most of the tests, the missile proved unstable with huge lateral and range deviations.

Engineers stated that the name "Fahad-300" represented the "hoped for" range of 300km; it was felt that if this concept was successful, the tanks could be extended (similar to the Al-Hussein modification) and even longer ranges achieved. Thus, a study was done on for the "Fahad-500" although no flight-tests were conducted.

During the testing phase, the longest range actually achieved was 136km. Given the instabilities of the system, and successful developments in other areas of the missile program, the Fahad work was abandoned in July 1989. Nevertheless, Iraq displayed the system at the 1989 Baghdad military exhibition for propaganda purposes.

Roughly concurrent with the Fahad work, Iraq engineers also tried to convert the SA-3/5B27Y SAM into a ballistic missile under the "Al-Barq" project. Al-Barq began in 1988 and ended in 1990, with range objectives on the order of 200km. Several flight tests were conducted, although maximum range achieved was only 117km. Just like the Fahad, dispersions of several kilometers were noted, and thus Al-Barq was never brought into service.

Incredibly, these failures did not deter Project 144 from pursuing additional, similar concepts. In January 1989, engineers initiated the "Kasir" project, the conversion of the SA-6/9M9 SAM. In this case, the Iraqi objective was a 100km range system but, again, in three tests the Kasir never flew farther than 60km.

	Updated October 2003