Other Names: M'utasim Plant, Rashid State Establishment; Al Yawm Al Azim Plant, Bulat Al-Shuhada' Factory
Location: Babil governate, near Al-Musayib, approximately 70km SSE of Baghdad city center
Subordinate to: Rashid State Establishment, Military Industrialization Commission
Primary Function: Assembly and static tests of solid rocket motors; repair of tactical solid rocket motors

Description:
M'utasim made up one of the three facilities of the Rashid State Establishment, the others being Amin and Ma'moun. On its northern end, it is connected to the Al-Athir site, the key location for Iraq's development and testing of a nuclear weapon.

The site was constructed in the 1980s expressly for the purpose of final assembly and testing of the first stage Badr-2000 motor and Sakr-200 motor; Iraq stated—and inspectors generally agreed—that no testing of Badr motors had taken place at the site. M'utasim was struck rather heavily during Desert Storm and sustained considerable damage. Inspectors further destroyed certain equipment and materials at the site, such as a maintenance cradle, large cooling and heating chamber, and maraging steel sheets. After the first Gulf War, the site was incorporated into Iraq's efforts to develop a short-range, solid-propellant ballistic missile.

The site contained five test stands for solid rocket motors: four horizontal and one vertical. It also contained final assembly areas/buildings for the Ababil-50 warheads, propellants, and the rocket itself. Capabilities, therefore, included calibration equipment, environmental chambers, and equipment for the integration of the igniter and warhead of the Ababil-50. M'utasim employed some 20 engineers and 40 technicians.

In October 2002, the Central Intelligence Agency reported that, during the absence of inspectors from 1999-2002, M'utasim and been "rebuilt and expanded." The Agency reported that "the size of certain facilities there, particularly those newly constructed between the assembly rework and static test areas, suggests that Baghdad is preparing to develop systems that are prohibited by the UN."

UNMOVIC reported that Iraq was using the site to static test motors for the Al-Fateh (formerly Ababil) ballistic missile.

Key Sources: UN inspection data; Central Intelligence Agency, "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs," October 2002, <http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd/Iraq_Oct_2002.htm>; CNS UNMOVIC Inspection Database, <http://cns.miis.edu/Iraq-Inspections>.

	Updated October 2003