Iran

Nuclear weapons would need delivery systems, and the most sophisticated American aerospace technology was graciously transferred. At the time of the 1979 revolution, Iranians had been trained in maintenance of sophisticated aircraft and helicopters at state-of-the-art depots built at Isfahan and Mehrabad. Ground had been broken for aircraft production factories outside of Isfahan, but no substantial training, tooling, or technology transfer had occurred. With a view to the future, the Shah's government reserved three internationally-allocated positions in geosynchronous orbit for Iran.

The new Islamic Republic abandoned most of these militaristic plans, but the harsh reality of the war with Iraq changed the mind of the government. The American aircraft and missiles were kept in operation, first with the assistance of Filipino maintenance specialists, then using predominately locally-trained staff. Iran decided to acquire its own ballistic missiles to match those of Iraq. Details remain murky, but from some combination of Syria, Libya, North Korea, Russia, and China, Iran acquired up to a dozen launchers and several hundred rockets of various models of R-17 Scud missiles. As many as 231 Iranian Scuds were fired at Baghdad during the 'War of the Cities' in 1988. The necessary tooling and raw stock to open a factory for manufacture of the Scud-B were said to have been purchased from North Korea in 1988, but without missiles being immediately produced. Other stories in the 1990's spoke of Russian assistance in transferring more advanced R-12 missile technology.

Whatever the real circumstances, by the end of the 1990's Iran had acquired the necessary technology, materials, and expertise to begin production of the North Korean Nodong-1 missile as the Shahab-3. This was followed by indigenous Iranian modifications and improvements, leading to test firing of an improved Shahab-3 in late 2004. This was said to be the basis of a space launcher, to be launched by Iranian New Year (No Ruz), March 21, 2005.

Iranian work on satellites was renewed in the mid-1990's in parallel with the development of the necessary rocketry. The Islamic Republic planned to share two of the geosynchronous slots reserved by the Shah 25 years earlier with others. However an Iranian satellite, dubbed Zohreh, would be placed in the third slot. Iranian intentions were thwarted when the United States blocked most countries from responding to Iran's tender calls for development of such a satellite.

To acquire satellite technology, it was decided that the Shahab-3-derived launch vehicle would be used to launch a completely indigenous Safir minimum satellite first. This would be followed by the Mesbah, developed in collaboration with Italy, as early as May 2005. A Mesbah-2 store-dump communications satellite would be deployed later. The constellation would be lofted in contracted launches from other countries. In January 2005, the long-blocked Zohreh geosynchronous satellite project finally went ahead with a contract signed with Russia.

• Emamshahr. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Latitude: 36°25' N. Longitude: 55°01' E.

• Qom. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Qom Test Site,. Latitude: 34°39' N. Longitude: 50°54' E.

• Iran-130. - short range ballistic missile -

• Oghab. - tactical ballistic missile -

• Shahab 3. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Iranian derivative of North Korean No Dong 1 intermediate range ballistic missile, evolved incrementally with Russian assistance into a longer-range missile and the first stage of an orbital launch vehicle.

• Shahab 4. - intermediate range ballistic missile - Iranian missile said to be derived from Soviet-era R-12 intermediate range ballistic missile and having a 1400 kg payload. Said to have been the basis for an Iranian space launcher, then said to be abandoned in 2003.

• Shahab SLV. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: In development. It had originally been claimed by Ali Shamkharni, the Iranian Minister of Defence, that the Iranian Shahab-4 missile would be used as a satellite launcher. The Shahab-4 was abandoned, but reports came in late 2003 that a stretched and improved version of the Shahab-3 would be the basis for an Iranian indigenous satellite launcher. First attempt was planned for 2005.

• Mesbah. - Technology

• Mesbah-2. - Communications Store-dump

• Safir Iran. - Technology

• Zohreh. - Communications

• Ansari. - Anousheh Ansari American Engineer Cosmonaut. Born 12 September 1966. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 10.88 days.

1991 May - Launch Site: Qom. Launch Vehicle: Hwasong. Model: Hwasong 6.

• Test mission Agency: IRAN. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 789. Level: 1.

• Russo-Iranian technical assistance in rocketry Israel provided US intelligence agencies with a copy of a $7 million contract between NPO Trud and Iran for equipment related to the R-12 IRBM. Other Russian contributions included wind tunnel, software, and mathematical modelling services from TsAGI, Polyus for laser gyro systems, and development of a solid-fuel capability.Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: Iran. References: 1675. Level: 1.

• Iranian satellite launcher mockup exhibited Iranian television showed what appeared to be a mock-up of a clam-shell nosecone with a small satellite inside and a model of a space launch vehicle with a bulbous payload section, apparently based upon the Shahab 3 joint North Korean/Iranian IRBM. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: Iran. Apogee: 150 km (90 mi). References: 1823. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: Iran. Apogee: 150 km (90 mi). References: 1864. Level: 1.

• Iranian Comunications Satellite Iran's Telecommunications Corporation said it would select one satellite supplier from bids received from France, Russia, China and India. The long-planned Zohreh communication satellite would be the first domestic communications satellite to serve Iran's 60 millions population. A decision was expected in early 2001, but yet again it seemed the project was postponed.References: 424. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: Iran. Apogee: 150 km (90 mi). References: 1874. Level: 1.

• Shahab 3 Test Launch 6 Agency: Revolutionary Guard Air Force. Missile built by Shahid Hemmat IG Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: Iran. Apogee: 150 km (90 mi). Missile demonstration flight. Stretched Shahab-3 launched into Dasht-E-Kavir desert. References: 1823. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: Iran. Apogee: 150 km (90 mi). Missile demonstration flight. Stretched Shahab-3 launched into Dasht-E-Kavir desert. References: 1823. Level: 1.

• Sinah-1 Mass: 160 kg (350 lb). Class: Surveillance. Type: Civilian. Spacecraft: Mesbah-2. Agency: AKO Polyot. Perigee: 682 km (423 mi). Apogee: 705 km (438 mi). Inclination: 98.20 deg. Period: 98.60 min. COSPAR: 2005-043D. USAF Sat Cat: 28893. First Iranian satellite, with an experimental surveillance camera payload. It may have used the Russian Polyot enterprise's Sterkh satellite bus. The same bus was to be used in future Nadezhda satellites. The Strekh bus was said to accomodate 80-100 kg satellites, and be 1.0 m high and 0.4 m in diameter, with a design life of 5 years. Sinah was 160 kg, and 0.8 x 1.3 x 1.6 m in dimensions. Or it may have been a version of the previously-announced satellite dubbed Mesbah-2.Level: 1.

• Shahab 3D Test mission Manufacturer: Shahid Hemmat IG. Agency: RGAF. Apogee: 150 km (90 mi). Test Level: 1.

• Iranian multiple missile firings Agency: Revolutionary Guards. Apogee: 150 km (90 mi). The Iranians fired at least one Shahab-3 and "dozens of" Shahab-2, Zolfaghar-73, Scud B, Fath-110 and Zelzal missiles in a mass firing demonstration to kick off their Great Prophet 2 military exercise. It marked the first firing of the Shahab 3 by troops on exercise as opposed to a test flight. The Shahab 2 was reported to have demonstrated a 1,400-bomblet cluster bomb warhead.Level: 1.