Editing Al-Samoud 2

{{Infobox weapon
|is_missile=yes
|name=Al Samoud
| image= AlSamoud-Amarah.jpg
| image_size = 200
|caption= An Al Samoud missile captured by US forces in Southern Iraq (2003)
|origin=
|type=Single-stage [[ballistic missile]]
|used_by=[[Iraqi Army]]
|manufacturer= Iraq
|unit_cost=
|propellant=Liquid propellant<br>(Al-Samoud)[[RFNA]]/[[UDMH]]<ref name="SA">{{cite web|url=https://www.strategicstudies.org/reports/Iraq/Samoud.htm|title=GIS SPecial Topical Studies:Iraq war 2003.|website=ISSA Special Reports|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317081035/https://www.strategicstudies.org/reports/Iraq/Samoud.htm|archive-date=17 March 2017}}</ref><br>Solid propellant<br>([[Ababil-100]])
|production_date=2001-2003
|service=2003
|engine=
|engine_power=
|weight=
|length=7,14m
|height=
|diameter=760mm
|wingspan=
|speed=
|vehicle_range=180km
|ceiling=
|altitude=
|filling=280kg
|accuracy=2.0&nbsp;km [[Circular Error Probable|CEP]]<ref name="SA"/>
|guidance=Inertial
|detonation=
|launch_platform= Mobile launcher
}}

'''Al-Samoud''' (الصمود, alternately ''Al-Samed'', which means steadfastness in Arabic)<ref name=Miller>Miller, David: ''Conflict Iraq: Weapons and tactics of US and Iraqi Forces.'' Zenith imprint, 2003, page 22. {{ISBN|0-7603-1592-2}}</ref> was a [[liquid-propellant rocket]] [[tactical ballistic missile]] developed by [[Iraq]] in the years between the [[Gulf War]] and the [[2003 Invasion of Iraq]]. The Iraqi army also developed a [[solid-fuel rocket]] version known as '''[[Ababil-100]]'''.

== Development ==
The missile was essentially a scaled-down [[Scud]],{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} though parts were mostly derived from the Soviet [[S-75 Dvina]] surface-to-air missile. The first test-firing was carried out as early as 1997<ref name=Miller/> and was supervised by [[UNSCOM]].<ref>[http://www.iraqwatch.org/profiles/missile.html#prof Iraq's missile programs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218050214/http://www.iraqwatch.org/profiles/missile.html |date=2015-02-18 }}</ref> The production started in 2001, and the goal was the assembly of ten missiles each month. The Al Samoud 2 was not fully operational by 2003, but some of them had been already delivered to the Iraqi army.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

=== Engine ===
The rocket engine evolved from the S-75 Dvina design and the thrust vector controls from the Scud.
The system also included an Iraqi-designed mobile launcher similar to the ''Al-Nida'', built for the missile [[Al Hussein (missile)|Al Hussein]],<ref>Cordesman, Anthony (2003). [http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/iraq_missilemystery.pdf ''The Great Iraqi Missile Mystery: The Military Importance of the Ababil, Al Samoud II, Al Fatah, Badr 2000, and Al Huysayn''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209162449/http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/iraq_missilemystery.pdf |date=2010-02-09 }}. [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]], 25 February 2003</ref> produced by the Iraqi company Al-Fida.<ref>[https://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/new/documents/baghdad_press_briefings/february/UNMOVIC%20IAEA%20on%20Inspections%2019%20Feb.pdf Unmovic - IAEA Press Statement on Inspection Activities in Iraq, 19 February 2003]</ref>

=== Payload ===
The missile carried a 280 kilogram warhead that was half high explosives and half protective steel shell. The explosive charge weighed 140&nbsp;kg, made of a mixture of 84&nbsp;kg of [[RDX]]=60%, 42&nbsp;kg of [[Trinitrotoluene|TNT]]= 30% and 14&nbsp;kg of [[aluminium]]= 10%, the latter used as an energetic blast enhancer. The payload was also designed to upload different types of [[bomblets]].{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

=== Guidance ===
The guidance package was assembled by [[Cannibalization of machine parts|cannibalizing]] [[gyroscopes]] from the Chinese [[Silkworm missile|Silkworm]] [[cruise missile]].{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} A source is cited as claiming that there were inertial and even [[GPS]] guidance systems illegally imported from [[Belarus]], but these allegations have not been confirmed.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

== Banned by the UN ==
[[Image:Al-Samoud-Fired.jpg|thumb|200px|A test-launch of an Al Samoud, ''circa'' 1997]]
On February 13, 2003, a [[UN]] panel reported that Iraq's Al-Samoud 2 missiles, disclosed by Iraq to weapons inspectors in December, have a range of [[1 E5 m|180 km]], in breach of [[UNSCR 1441]]. The limit allowed by the UN is 150&nbsp;km.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Iraq agreed to destroy the Al-Samoud 2 long range missiles, and by mid-March 2003, a number had been destroyed. Although [[UNMOVIC]] ordered to stop its production, Iraq assembled some 20 missiles during the early months of 2003.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

American forces found a cache of 12 Al Samoud missiles south of [[Baiji, Iraq|Baiji]] on July 21, 2003.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

== Operational history (March–April 2003) ==

[[Image:IraqiShortRange-3.jpg|thumb|250px|Aftermath of the Iraqi missile attack on 7 April]]{{See also|Ababil-100}}
A number of Al-Samoud 2 missiles were fired at Kuwait during the 2003 conflict.<ref>The sources claim that only three to five Al-Samoud 2 were actually used by the Iraqis, the remainder missiles were purportedly Ababil-100/Al-Fahd or Laith-90, this latter a locally upgraded version of the [[Frog-7]]:
*[http://www.cdi.org/friendlyversion/printversion.cfm?documentID=1799#prof www.cdi.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031223155156/http://www.cdi.org/friendlyversion/printversion.cfm?documentID=1799#prof |date=2003-12-23 }}</ref> One of them, aimed at the Coalition Headquarters at [[Camp Doha]], was successfully intercepted by a [[MIM-104 Patriot|Patriot]] missile on March 27. Some debris hit buildings inside the US base.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/05/29/sprj.irq.missile/index.html#prof www.cnn.com/2003]</ref> The other missiles were also shot down or landed harmlessly in the desert.

A similar development, the Al-Fahd or Ababil-100, a [[Solid-fuel rocket|solid propellant]] version of the Al-Samoud, was also used by the Iraqi army during the invasion. The Headquarters of the 2nd Brigade, [[US 3rd Infantry Division]], were struck south of [[Baghdad]] by a missile of this kind on April 7. Three soldiers and two foreign reporters were killed in the blast.<ref>Zucchino, David: ''Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad''. Grove Press, 2004, page 162.</ref><ref>"He (Lt. Col. Wesley, second in command) had gotten only thirty feet from his vehicle when a powerful ''Abril'' (sic) missile hit it dead center." Lacey, Jim:''Takedown: the 3rd Infantry Division's twenty-one day assault on Baghdad.'' Naval Institute Press, 2007, page 243.
{{ISBN|1-59114-458-2}}</ref><ref>''Iraqi missile hits Army base'', By Steven Lee Myers. ''The New York Times'', 04/07/2003.</ref><ref>''Nach ersten Erkenntnissen soll es sich um eine irakische Boden-Boden-Rakete vom Typ Ababil-100 mit einer Reichweite von 130 Kilometern handeln.'' [https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/krieg-im-irak-und150-reporter-sie-hatten-keine-chance_aid_195389.html#prof Focus magazine, 14 April 2003, report by Gudrun Dometeit] {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1200/RR1214/RAND_RR1214.pdf|title=Operation Iraqi Freedom: Decisive War, Elusive Peace|last=Perry|first=Walter L.|publisher=RAND Corporation|year=2015|isbn=978-0-8330-4192-0|pages=178}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Commons category}}
* [[List of missiles]]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Scud}}

[[Category:Tactical ballistic missiles of Iraq]]
[[Category:Ballistic missiles of Iraq]]
[[Category:Short-range ballistic missiles of Iraq]]
[[Category:Surface-to-surface missiles of Iraq]]
[[Category:Theatre ballistic missiles]]
[[Category:Military equipment introduced in the 2000s]]