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Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East

Range and Payload of Ballistic Missiles and Space Launch Vehicles (SLV) Deployed in the Middle East1

Current WMD Middle East Information

Please note this section is no longer being updated. For the latest Middle East WMD information, please visit these links:

Country Profiles
Information on nuclear, biological & chemical weapons and missile programs, with details on capabilities, facilities, chronologies, and imports/exports.

CNS maintains these Country Profile databases for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).

Updated: April 2006
BSRBM*
<150km range
SRBM
150-799km range
MRBM
800-2,399km range
IRBM
2,400-5,499km range
2,000-2,500kg payload


CSS-2/DF-3
(2,800km, 2,150kg)
Saudi Arabia
1,501-2,000kg payload



1,001-1,500kg payload



501-1,000kg payload
Project T [2]
(450km, 985kg)
Egypt
MGM-140 ATACMS [3]
(160km, 560 kg)
Turkey
Scud-B
(300km, 985kg)
Egypt, Iran, Libya [4], Syria, UAE, Yemen
Scud-C
(500km, 700kg)
Iran, Syria
Jericho-2
(1,500km, 1,000kg)
Israel
Shahab-3
(1,300-2,000km, 700kg)
Iran

251-500kg payload
MGM-52 Lance
(130km, 450kg)
Israel
SS-21 Scarab
(70km, 480kg)
Libya, Syria, Yemen
Jericho-1
(500km, 500kg)
Israel
Mushak-200
(200km, 500kg)
Iran
Mushak-160
(160km, 500kg)
Iran

250kg or less payload
CSS-8
(150km, 190kg)
Iran
Ababil-50
(50km, 95kg)
Iraq
Mushak-120
(130km, 150kg)
Iran

Shavit [5]
(4,500km, 150-250kg)
Israel
* This chart is based on ballistic missile range classifications defined by the Centre for Defence and International Studies. See: "Range Classification," [Online] http://www.cdiss.org.


BSRBM
Battlefield Short-Range Ballistic Missile
<150km
(<94 miles)
SRBM
Short-Range Ballistic Missile
150-799km
(94-499 miles)
MRBM
Medium-Range Ballistic Missile
800-2,399km
(500-1,499 miles)
IRBM
Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile
2,400-5,499km
(1,500-3,437 miles)
ICBM
Intercontinental-Range Ballistic Missile
>5,500km
(<3,438 miles)

Sources:

  1. This chart summarizes information available from public sources. Data were drawn primarily from: "Missile and Space Launch Capabilities of Selected Countries," The Nonproliferation Review, forthcoming 1998. Duncan Lennox, ed., Jane's Strategic Weapons Systems Issue 24, 5/97. Centre for Defence and International Security Studies, "Master Tables," [Online] http://www.cdiss.org. Federation of American Scientists, "Missile Proliferation Update," [Online] http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/missile/index.html. The Middle East Military Balance (Tel Aviv: Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, 5/14/05), [Online] http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/balance/toc.html. "Worldwide Ballistic Missile Inventories," Arms Control Association, 5/06, [Online] http://www.armscontrol.org/pdf/missiles.pdf. Joshua Williams, "World Missile Chart," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2006, [Online] http://www.carnegieendowment.org/npp/ballisticmissilechart.cfm.
    Data was also drawn from articles in: Air & Cosmos/Aviation International, Arms Control Reporter, Arms Control Today, Defense News, Ha'aretz, International Herald Tribune, Flight International, Jane's Defence Weekly, Jane's Intelligence Review, Jerusalem Post, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Nuclear News, Policy Watch, Report on Middle East Affairs, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Voprosy bezaposnosti, Washington Times, Weekly Defense Monitor, and Yedi'ot Aharonot.
  2. The Project T is a Scud derivative.
  3. ATACMS = Army Tactical Missile System. Joshua Williams, "World Missile Chart," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2006, [Online] http://www.carnegieendowment.org/npp/ballisticmisssilechart.cfm.
  4. In a 2004 agreement, the Libyan government agreed to alter its Scud-B missiles to give them shorter ranges. Sammy Salama, "Was Libya WMD Disarmament a Significant Success for Nonproliferation?" NTI Issue Brief, 9/04, [Online] http://www.nti.og/e_research/e3_56a.html.
  5. The Shavit is a space launch vehicle (SLV) designed to place satellites into orbit. However, SLVs can be redesigned and equipped with guidance systems to function as ballistic missiles with similar range and payload characteristics. "Shavit," Israel Aircraft Industries, 2002, [Online] http://www.iai.co.il/default.aspx?docID=15689&FolderID=14471&Lang=en.


Originally prepared by Michael Barletta and Erik Jorgensen, May 1998;
Updated by Sammy Salama and Alexis Zeiger, April 2006.

© Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies. April 2006


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