Iran test-fired a new generation of long-range surface-to-surface missile

Source: AP, 12-11-2008
Iran has successfully test-fired a new generation of long range surface-to-surface missile using solid fuel, making them more accurate than its predecessors, the defense minister announced Wednesday.
Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on state television that the Sejjil was a high-speed missile manufactured at the Iranian Aerospace department of the Defense Ministry. He said it had a range of about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers).
Solid fuel missiles are more accurate than the liquid fuel missiles of similar range currently possessed by Iran.
The official IRNA news agency said the test was conducted Wednesday and
television showed the missile being fired Wednesday from a launching pad in a desert region.
This missile is a two-stage weapon with two combined solid-fuel engines and has an extraordinary high capability, the television quote Najjar as saying.
He didn't elaborate.
Najjar said the missile was a defensive weapon and not a response to threats against Iran. He didn't name any country but "Israel" has recently threatened to take military action against Iran to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb.
"This missile test was conducted within the framework of a defensive, deterrent strategy ... and specifically with defensive objectives," Najjar added.
Iran is known to possess a medium-range ballistic missile known as the
Shahab-3, which means shooting star in Farsi, with a range of at least 800 miles. In 2005, Iranian officials said they had improved the range of the Shahab-3 to 1,200 miles.
Iran's Shahab-3 missile has been known to use liquid fuel. Missiles using liquid fuel have are less accurate.
In September 2007 during a military parade, Iran unveiled another missile, the Ghadr, which it said has a range of 1,120 miles.
Iran launched an arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and a fighter plane.
This week, construction of a base was completed at Mount Keren near the Ketziot prison in the Negev, which will house a new early warning radar system meant to augment "Israel's" defenses against Iranian ground-to-ground missiles.
The radar is connected to a U.S. satellite warning system, which is meant to bolster "Israel's" defensive capabilities by issuing an immediate warning in the event of an enemy missile launch. 120 American civilians and soldiers will man the base, in what is the first time permanent stationing of American military personnel on "Israeli" soil.