Al Samoud
An Al Samoud missile captured by US forces in Southern Iraq (2003)
Type	Single-stage ballistic missile
Service history
In service	2003
Used by	Iraqi Army
Production history
Manufacturer	Iraq
Produced	2001-2003
Specifications
Length	7,14m
Diameter	760mm
Warhead	280kg
Propellant	Liquid propellant (Al-Samoud)RFNA/UDMH[1] Solid propellant (Ababil-100)
Operational range	180km
Guidance system	Inertial
Accuracy	2.0 km CEP[1]
Launch platform	Mobile launcher

Al-Samoud (الصمود, alternately Al-Samed, which means steadfastness in Arabic)^[2] 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.

The missile was essentially a scaled-down Scud,^{[citation needed]} 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^[2] and was supervised by UNSCOM.^[3] 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]}

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,^[4] produced by the Iraqi company Al-Fida.^[5]

The missile carried a 280 kilogram warhead that was half high explosives and half protective steel shell. The explosive charge weighed 140 kg, made of a mixture of 84 kg of RDX=60%, 42 kg of TNT= 30% and 14 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]}

The guidance package was assembled by cannibalizing gyroscopes from the Chinese Silkworm cruise missile.^{[citation needed]} 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]}

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 180 km, in breach of UNSCR 1441. The limit allowed by the UN is 150 km.^{[citation needed]}

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]}

American forces found a cache of 12 Al Samoud missiles south of Baiji on July 21, 2003.^{[citation needed]}

A number of Al-Samoud 2 missiles were fired at Kuwait during the 2003 conflict.^[6] One of them, aimed at the Coalition Headquarters at Camp Doha, was successfully intercepted by a Patriot missile on March 27. Some debris hit buildings inside the US base.^[7] The other missiles were also shot down or landed harmlessly in the desert.

A similar development, the Al-Fahd or Ababil-100, a 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.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

• List of missiles