Al Yusufiyah [Yousefiya / Yusufiya / Yusufiyah] PPL 33°04'56"N 44°15'10"E Nahr al Yusufiyah [Nahr al Yusufiya / Jadwal al Yusufiyah / Nahr al Yusufiyah al Hadis] STM 33°08'00"N 44°04'00"E Iskandariya [Al Iskandariyah] PPL 32°53'36"N 44°21'06"E
Al Qa Qaa is located in Yousefiya 30-38 km South of Baghdad, near Iskandariya. The actual Iraqi name for the complex is the al Qa Qaa Government Enterprise. The complex consists of at least a solid propellant facility, a suspected Scud production facility, a SSM equipment production facility, an unidentified facility under construction as of late 1990, and the Latifiyah BW facility located at the eastern end of the complex which is part of an overall complex known as the Latifiya Explosives and Ammunition Plant al Qa Qaa. [GulfLINK]
Entities at this facility include:
Al Qa Qaa was responsible for the explosive filling of long-range missile warheads.
Warhead processing facilities at the site were destroyed under UNSCOM supervision.
Iraq made significant progress in the development of the nuclear weapon implosion package, largely through efforts at the Al Qa Qaa establishment. The involvement of the Al Qa Qaa State Establishment in support of the development of the implosion package began in 1987. [GC 40-13] The Nassr industrial complex southwest of Baghdad contained dozens of state-of-the-art major manufacturing facilities such as steel and aluminum production facilities, steel and aluminum casting facilities, numerous machine shops, huge presses and high-temperature furnaces and sophisticated welding equipment used to work with very high strength steel and aluminum, and a research and development center. The heavily guarded Nassr complex also produced components for Iraq's nuclear centrifuge program and was the site of a centrifuge manufacturing plant. Nassr also contributed to Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programs. Much of the equipment at the Nassr complex was obtained through Iraqi procurement fronts operating in Europe and the United States. Nassr was a prime target for allied bombing during the Gulf War.
