New NASIC Report Appears Watered Down And Out Of Date January 19, 2021
The US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) has published a new version of its widely referenced Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat report.
Read moreThe US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) has published a new version of its widely referenced Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat report.
Read moreThe two reasons given for invading Iraq in 2003 were baseless: Saddam Hussein’s WMDs were illusory, as were his connections to al Qaeda. While this needless war is often attributed to an intelligence failure, we all are at fault. Our elected officials failed to ask the questions they should have before going to war. So […] The post Avoiding Needless Wars, Part 9: Iraq appears on ScienceWonk, FAS's blog for opinions from guest experts and leaders.
Read moreMissile Watch A publication of the FAS Arms Sales Monitoring Project Vol. 3, Issue 2 June 2010 Editor: Matt Schroeder…
Read moreMissile Watch A publication of the FAS Arms Sales Monitoring Project Vol. 3, Issue 1 February 2010 Editor: Matt Schroeder Contributing Author:…
Read moreAfghanistan In March, the Sunday Times of London reported on the Taliban’s alleged acquisition of Iranian-supplied SA-14 missiles, which the Afghan insurgent group reportedly wants for a “spectacular” attack on…
Read moreDespite a million dollar buyback program and hundreds of raids on illicit weapons caches, US and Iraqi forces are still finding surface-to-air missiles in insurgent stockpiles. US military press releases…
Read moreThe FAS has acquired, via a Freedom of Information Act request, additional information about a cache of "22 surface-to-air missiles" discovered by Coalition Forces north of Baghdad on 4 January 2006. According to the responsive document - a redacted entry from a database maintained by Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) - the missiles were SA-13 "Gopher" surface-to-air missiles. The SA-13 is a short-range, low altitude, infra-red seeking missile that is typically launched from a pedestal mounted on the back of an armored vehicle. The weapons cache, which included 5000 rounds of 32 mm cannon ammunition, was located with a mine detector and appeared at the time to have been "emplaced in the last 2 weeks." It is unclear from the DoD documents if the missiles were operational or who they belonged to.
Read moreIn a recent report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) attributes the looting of Iraq's arms depots to the "ovewhelming size and number" of these depots and “prewar planning priorities and certain assumptions that proved to be invalid." The report finds that the US military “did not adequately secure these [conventional munitions storage] sites during and immediately after the conclusion of major combat operations” and “did not plan for or set up a program to centrally manage and destroy enemy munitions until August 2003…” The munitions looted from Iraqi arsenals, claims the GAO, have been used extensively in the deadly improvised explosive device (IED) attacks that have become tragically commonplace in Iraq. But the IED threat is only part of the story. Iraq's arsenals were also brimming with shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles, thousands of which disappeared during the widespread looting of the regime's numerous arms depots in 2003.
Read moreAt an unusual press briefing on Monday, U.S. military officials provided the first physical evidence of Iranian arms shipments to Iraqi extremist groups. The display, which the New York Times called “extraordinary,” consisted of explosively formed penetrators, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile reportedly found in Iraq and bearing Iranian markings. Notably, the officials also claimed to have proof that the operation was being directed by “the highest levels of the Iranian government,” a claim that was rigorously denied by Tehran. The briefing raised more questions than it answered. Topping the list are questions about the extent of the Iranian government’s involvement in the arms shipments. Defense Department officials reportedly provided little proof for their claims of high-level involvement by the Iranian government, and the next day General Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chief of staff, appeared to contradict them. Commenting on the captured weaponry, Pace conceded that the weapons “[do] not translate to that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this.” Yesterday President Bush sided with General Pace, confirming that “we don’t…know whether the head leaders of Iran ordered the Quds force to do what they did.” The captured weapons themselves are also puzzling. Not only were they reportedly manufactured in Iran, they are also emblazoned with manufacture dates and lot numbers - hardly indicative of a government that wants to maintain “plausible deniability." Architects of covert aid programs usually go to great lengths to conceal their government’s involvement by purchasing weapons from foreign suppliers and clandestinely shipping them through third countries. The Iranians apparently did neither. Why?
Read more