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Project 144 / Project 1728

Iraq was planning additional ground-to-ground missiles which would have a range of 1200 to 2000 km, be based on SCUD technology, and use liquid fuel propellant. Project 144 was focused on the modification and production of missile systems, along with the supplementary Project 1728, for indigenous SCUD engine development and production. Project 1729 was assigned to the Nassr State Enterprise, Research and Development Center, Taji-Baghdad, and Project 144 was assigned to the Al Qaya State Establishment in Baghdad.

The long term plan for a nuclear weapon delivery was based on the engine that was being developed to power the second stage of the Al Abid satellite launcher. This vehicle would have had a payload chamber of 1.25 meter diameter and the capability to deliver a warhead of at least one ton to a range of almost 1,200 km. Practical work on this engine did not start until April 1989 and according to Iraq, this nuclear weapon delivery vehicle option would not have been complete until 1993 - two years after the first nuclear weapon was supposed to have been produced. [GC 40-13]

Sources and Resources

"New Iraq booster has `limited ability to launch payloads,' U.S. says," Satellite Week, Vol. 11, No. 50, 18 Dec 89, p. 4.

Michael R. Gordon, "U.S. confirms Iraq has launched rocket that can carry satellites," The New York Times, 9 Dec 89.

INA, 9 Dec 89, FBIS-NES 12 Dec 89, p. 20.

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