Aspahbod
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In February 7, 2011, Iranian media showed footage of a green colored ballistic missile being launched and hitting a it's target directly. The missile which was called "Khalije Fars" (Persian Gulf), raised many questions about the safety of US warships in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Pictures showed that the missile is from the well known Fateh family of short range missiles with the exception of having a rounded nose that is the guidance section of the missile in it's final phase.
Fateh-110 is the result of Iranian need for an accurate short range surface to surface missile. At first, Iran bought some 200 Chinese CSS-8, which were surface to surface version of their HQ-2 SAM, itself an upgraded version of soviet SA-2 Guideline. Iran also started the production of the missiles under the name "Tondar 69". But these missiles didn't satisfy the Iranian armed forces. They were bulky, could only be launched from fixed positions and their warhead was very light. A project to make a replacement started and Zelzal-2, an Iranian solid fueled unguided rocket, was chosen as the base. Movable fins were added to the missile and Tondar 69's guidance kit was put on the missile. To protect the movable fins from high speeds and to decrease the lost energy due to drag, the burn time of the engine was increased by 10 seconds, reducing the thrust and speed. The new missile was called Fateh-110.
Fateh-110 was faster, smaller and simpler than liquid fueled Tondar-69. Also it had more range and a heavier warhead than it's predecessor and could be launched from the back of Zelzal TELs. It evolved slowly and it's last version, simply called Third Generation Fateh-110, had a range of 300 km and a 650 kg warhead. CEP of the missile was increased to a point that the impact could be "filmed".
According to Iranian officials, Khalij Fars has a range of 300 km, a 650 kg warhead and a top speed of mach 3 (Iranian export website mentions the exact amount of mach 3.7 for Fateh-110). Matching the specifications of third generation Fateh. It gives Iran the ability to target ships from inside it's territory opposed to "shore-based" cruise missile launchers. The missile is sent into the approximate position of the enemy ship calculated by a radar. In the final phase of the flight, the seeker in the nosecone searches for a valid target and guides the missile to the ship. The 650 kg warhead is enough to deal with all current naval targets.
One of the main points about the missile is that it is unable to perform extensive maneuvers in it's flight because of it's relatively small fins. This can be true. But it is noteworthy that if everything goes fine, there is not going to be such extensive maneuvers as the shore radar battery has predicted the location of the target and guides the missile to an approximate location near it. So that Khalif Fars just needs a small change in it's trajectory to move the impact location about 100-200 m.
The type of the missile seeker is still a mystery. But it is obvious that it is either an Infra-red seeker, or an Electro-optical one. Take note that Iran is more experienced with EO seekers. Khalij Fars needs an over-the-horizon radar to find it's target. Iran is known to be developing some OTH radars since 2010. But it is unlikely that they are made operational as of now. That can explain why the target ship in the missile's only publicized test is static. Mashreghnews reported that such a radar is being tested in southern Iran. If operational, this radar can correct the missile's flight-path if the target changed it's direction or speed.
Now the question is that if Khalij Fars is a serious threat to the American navy in the region or not.
Well, most naval ships today use a CIWS (Close in weapon system) like American Phalanx to defend against upcoming cruise missiles. Some of these also use short range air defense missiles. Non of these are designed to counter a ballistic missile with a speed of mach 3.7.
But some few navies in the world use anti-ballistic missile systems and United States, is the leading nation in use of ships with ABM technology. AEGIS system is a very capable system and while Standard Missile 3 doesn't engage missiles in the lower levels of atmosphere, SM-2 can easily engage Khalij Fars. It seems that there is no way that Iranian ballistic missile could score a kill against an AEGIS protected ship.
But Iran has an advantage in this area. Khalij Fars is based on a relatively simple, cheap platform and can be produced in mass numbers and use them in large salvos. The inventory of ABM missiles in the American ships is limited and depletes in a fast rate. Especially if Iran uses decoys and other similar missiles like Zelzal missiles with cluster warheads which can be effective against a group of ships like a carrier battle group. Zelzal missile is so cheap and unsophisticated that according to western sources, Iran produced about 20000 of them in the 10 year period of 1990-2000. Making Fateh similar decoys won't probably take a long time either.
Iran has also deployed chaff warheads on it's unguided rockets, making the interception of the upcoming salvo much harder.
In Great Prophet 6 wargames, Iran unveiled the Anti ship version of Tondar 69. As the missile is no longer produced, it can be assumed that Iran is modifying it's existing CSS-8 and Tondar-69 arsenal to take an Anti shipping role. The interesting part is that there is no EO/IR seeker on the missile, suggesting that it uses some radar guidance. This theory is strengthened as some such versions of Khalij Fars missile are seen in a video. Suggesting that Iran is also developing a radar seeker for the missile or that the OTH radar is indeed ready.
As missiles like this and Chinese DF-21D are being developed, more navies are looking for ABM capable warships. Especially that North Korea and Syria can be potential customers of the Iranian missile. Also there can be other nations willing to have such weapons.
Khalij Fars is one of the weapons Iran has to defend it's southern coast and will play a prominent part in it's strategy that included salvos of cruise missiles and swarms of UCAVs and Speedboats. Whether against US carriers in the gulf or oil tankers in Hormuz straight, Khalij Fars will be of the most effective weapons of Iran.
By Omid.D (Aspahbod)
