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Europe Now in Striking Distance of Iran

Will Europe keeping yawning about the Iranian threat now that they are in striking distance of the mad mullahs?

Iran procures missiles capable of hitting Europe

Iran has purchased ground-to-ground missiles from North Korea with a range of 2,500 kilometers, the head of the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Branch, Major General Amos Yadlin, said Wednesday.

While Iran already possessed missiles capable of reaching Israel, the new weapons pose a threat for countries in Europe and parts of the Middle East that have now come into Iranian range.

Some of the missiles have already arrived in Iran, Yadlin said in a lecture in memory of Israel's sixth president Haim Herzog, who was also head of the IDF Intelligence Branch.

The missiles are known in the West as BM-25s, operate on liquid fuel and are single-stage. The BM-25 was originally manufactured in the Soviet Union, where the first generation, adapted for use by Soviet submarines and able to carry a nuclear warhead, was known as the SSN6. After the Russians retired the missiles from service, they sold them to the North Koreans, who developed them to carry a heavier payload.

With this purchase the Iranians have leap-frogged over their Shihab-4 missile with its range of 2,000 kilometers.

Iran worked for years on the development of the Shihab-3, which has a range of 1,300 kilometers, and conducted numerous tests. They also developed a cone with improved ability to enter the atmosphere, which meant it was more accurate.

And let's not forget Iran's announcement earlier this week that it planned on sharing nuclear know-how with Sudan.

UPDATE: Won't help much against an nuclear armed missile, but here's more information on the Trophy Active Protection System, the new weapon that Israel has developed to disable RPGs, soon to be mounted on US fighting vehicles, if testing continues to go well.

the Trophy was developed as a result of the changing nature of urban conflict, as exemplified by the US presence in Iraq.

"The whole concept of warfare has changed drastically. Traditional protection has been passive - which means armor. But armor has a number of deficiencies. For one, armor makes many vehicles too heavy," Ben Yoash told ISRAEL21c. "Moreover, armor doesn't protect 360 degrees around the vehicle."

"With conventional warfare, we knew more or less where the enemy was - which was right in front of you. With today's low intensity conflicts, threats are coming from all around - from every direction, and we need the protection to be all around as well. To protect against weapons like the RPG, you need active protection, and the Trophy is a result of that," he added.


The Trophy system is a miniaturized version of the anti-ballistic missile system that automatically detects an incoming threat and launches an interceptor rocket that homes in on the missile and destroys it at a safe distance. Designed to mounted on a fighting vehicle and provide a virtual bubble of protection, it includes rockets that are launched vertically and knock down the RPG round as it streaks toward the vehicle.

We highlighted a cool Video about the Trophy previously: The Next Generation of Weapons

posted by Alcibiades @ 12:20 AM