Iran Successfully Test-Fires 2,000-Kilometer-Range Sejjil-2 Missile

Iran Successfully Test-Fires Sejjil 2 Missile

May 20, 2009

TEHRAN (FNA)-

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Wednesday that the country has successfully test-fired a new missile called Sejjil 2, underlining that the advancement would highly increase the country's deterrent power.

Addressing a large and fervent congregation of people in Iran's eastern province of Semnan, Ahmadinejad said when he and his cabinet ministers were on the flight to Semnan, the defense minister told him on the phone that "we have launched a Sejjil-2 missile, which enjoys a very advanced technology, from Semnan and it has struck the intended target".

"The Sejjil missiles are among multi-stage missiles which move fast and are able to go into space then come back and hit the target. It works on solid fuel," Ahmadinejad added to cheers from the crowd.

He did not specify the missile's range.

The Defense Minister Mohammad Mostafa Najjar said on November 12 that Iran had test-fired a new generation of ground-to-ground missiles.

Iran successfully test fired a new generation of ground-to-ground missile called "Sejjil" on November 12. Sejjil is a two-stage missile that carries two engines and burns combined solid fuel.

Prior to the test, Iran's missile capability was measured by its medium-range ballistic missile known as the Shahab-3, which means "shooting star" in Farsi, with a range of at least 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) which was improved and promoted to 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) in 2005.

Iran's Shahab-3 missile has been known to use liquid fuel. Missiles using liquid fuel are less accurate than those using solid fuel.

Iran successfully launches missile with 2,000 km range: report

2009-05-20 17:01:52  

    TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) --

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that the country successfully launched an advanced surface-to-surface missile with a range of about 2,000 km., the official IRNA news agency reported.

    Ahmadinejad made the announcement during his visit to the northern Iranian province of Semnan, where the Sejil 2 missile was launched, IRNA reported.

    "The Sejil 2 missile has high technology ... and exactly landed in the pre-planned target," he was quoted as saying.

    The Sejil missiles use solid fuel and perform in two stages, which is different from the country's already tested Shehab missiles that utilize liquid fuel and perform in one stage, according to the report.

    In November, Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar announced that the Islamic Republic has successfully test-fired a new generation of surface-to-surface missile, named Sejil.

    Sejil had a range of about 1,200 miles (2,000 km), Najjar added.

    State television showed the missile being fired from a platform in a desert and soaring into the sky with a long white vapor trail.

    Najjar reiterated then that Sejil was manufactured in line with "Iran's detente policy" and only for defensive purposes of its territory and in order to strengthen peace and stability in the region.

    Iran had already test-fired its another Shehab-3 missile capable of hitting targets within a range of 2,000 km, vowing that its missile capabilities are "a defensive tool against invasions."

Special Report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

Editor: Wang Hongjiang