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.
