Iran digs hundreds of missile silos - some for misdirection

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

November 14, 2009, 10:05 PM (GMT+02:00)
Iranian president looks over his shoulder

Iranian president looks over his shoulder

The Iranians are frenziedly digging hundreds of new missile launch silos in central and Western Iran in readiness for a US or Israeli attack on their nuclear installations, DEBKAfile's intelligence sources report. Some Western sources have noticed that they are creating more silo bases than they have operational missile batteries in order to mislead their enemies about the locations of the genuine launch pads. The dummy silos are fully equipped with air defenses including anti-air missiles which too are fake.

According to our military sources, the commanders of the two-week Juniper Cobra 10 joint US-Israel exercise which ended last week knew all about Iran's expanding silo project. It is managed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps which is responsible for its missile program.

The Iranians are working at the same frantic tempo to turn out Shehab-3, Shehab-4 and Sajil-2 ballistic missiles, as well as a fourth secret ICBM which is thought believed designed to carry a nuclear warhead. Our sources believe it is modeled on Pakistan's Ghauri 3, a three-stage weapon powered by solid fuel with a range of 3,000 km. If they can get this secret weapon off the production line, it would be the first three-stage missile in Iran's armory.