According to reports published in Russia, apparently based on information developed by the Russian Federal Security Service, in 1988 Iran built a large missile complex to produce Silkworm missiles with Chinese assistance at Shakhroud, which is located on the Tehran-Masshad railroad.
Other sources have simply asserted that Shahroud is the locale of missile test facilities of unspecified nature and provenance. Still other reports claim that Iran�s main missile test range is near Shahroud, along the Tehran-Mashhad railway. A supporting range telemetry station is said to be located some 350 km south, at Taba along the Mashhad-Isfahan road. Both facilities are said to be operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Some sources suggest that tests of North Korean missiles are conducted from mobile launchers at a test site near Qom about 310 miles (500 kilometers) to a target area south of Shahroud.
In 1999 it was reported that Iran was preparing to test a new multi-stage missile capabile of reaching the continental United States. It was claimed that the new missile, code-named "Kosar," was being developed with assistance from Russian aerospace entities. Supposedly the missile would use a version of of the Russian RD-216 liquid propellant engine used in the Soviet SS-5 IRBMs. As of mid-1999 preparation were said to be underway at the Shahroud missile range for a test launch, though as of late 2000 such a launch had not occured.
According to reports published in Russia, apparently based on information developed by the Russian Federal Security Service, also notes that a factory for manufacturing missile guidance and steering systems is being built north of the Asian highway near the township of "Shargfabad" with a layout that is identical to the Parchin military plant. It will come as no surprise that the NIMA GEOnet Names Server (GNS) is unfamiliar with "Shargfabad." A broad wildcard search suggests that "Sharafabad" may be the place in question, but there are some 18 of these places [you don't want to know how many places are called "Sharifabad" but if you do, then do the search on "S*ar*abad"]. It turns out that one Sharafabad is co-located with Shahroud, and we guesstimate that these are one and the same facility.As of 01 October 2000 Russian 2-meter resolution KVR-1000 imagery coverage was not available via the SPIN-2 service on TerraServer, nor was archived Space Imaging IKONOS 1-meter imagery of this facility available on the CARTERRA� Archive.
