smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) (02/14/91)
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) What, in the way of hardware, does it take to launch a Scud or similarly ancient missile? Presumably, it's somewhere in between Launch Control for the space shuttle and someone lighting a fuse with a match. Where along the continuum does the Scud fall? What I'm getting at is this: is it even possible to destroy all launchers, or can some be cobbled together. The functions I know are needed are a fuel truck, a meteorological rader, and something to move the missile to an upright position. Iraq presumably has a large supply of ordinary tanker trucks that could be pressed into service, and the radar truck could probably be located quite some distance away. (For that matter, given the accuracy of the Scuds and Iraq's purpose in using them, they may just forgo the tweaks, especially on missiles launched towards Saudi Arabia.) Finally, the erector doesn't strike me as being particularly high-tech; while perhaps not off-the-shelf hardware, it might be easy to build. Presumably, the other piece that's missing is a control station -- some way to program whatever passes for a Scud guidance system, and some sort of sequencer/controller. On a modern missile, those could be complex. But on a 60's-vintage Soviet missile, maybe they're easy. Does anyone know?
brooksp@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Peter Brooks) (02/18/91)
From: Peter Brooks <brooksp@hpcc01.corp.hp.com> Part of your question has already been answered. I saw a TV show that showed some older photos of some Iraq arms exposition. One little item was a Saab-Scania truck that had been adapted to the erector/launcher role. (The soviet launcher is too small for the Iraqi variants, anyway.) It was reported that Iraq imported some 7000 of these trucks over the years..... Aparently, the conversion isn't all that difficult. Pete Brooks