The

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

Condor missile was a multinational space research program started in the 1970s. It involved significant contract work being performed by German company MBB (now a group within

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...

), but later developed into a

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typic ...

s program.

Condor I

The original Condor had little military capability but helped build expertise later used for the ''Alacrán'' missile program. The Alacrán program developed a functional short-range ballistic missile.

Specifications (Condor I)

* Length: * Maximum diameter: * Stages: 1 * Fuel: HTPB * Guidance system: inertial * Apogee: * Range: * Payload:

Alacrán (Condor IAIII)

The Alacrán missile was a short range ballistic missile derived from the Condor Missile Program. Derived from the Condor IAIII prototype, the Alacrán missile had shorter stabilization fins, an

inertial guidance system An inertial navigation system (INS; also inertial guidance system, inertial instrument) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning ...

, and a 1000CAP1 cluster warhead.

Specifications (Condor IAIII - Alacrán)

* Length: * Maximum diameter: * Stages: 1 * Fuel: HTPB * Guidance system: inertial * Apogee: * Range: * Warhead: 1000CAM1

cluster munition A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy veh ...

warhead,

Condor II

During and after the 1982

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

(), France (which supplied missiles) placed an arms embargo on Argentina, causing the

Argentine Air Force The Argentine Air Force (, or simply ''FAA'') is the air force of Argentina and one of three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. In 2018, it had 13,837 military and 6,900 civilian personnel. FAA commander in chief is Brigadie ...

, under the command of Ernesto Crespo, to develop its own medium-range missile in the ''Condor II'' program. This program was undertaken in close collaboration with

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, and then

Ba'athist Iraq Ba'athist Iraq, officially the Iraqi Republic (1968–1992) and later the Republic of Iraq (1992–2003), was the Iraqi state between 1968 and 2003 under the one-party rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, Iraqi regional bra ...

(the Iraqi version was called

BADR-2000 The Badr-2000 was an Iraqi high technology two-stage solid-propelled Medium-range ballistic missile that was based on the Argentinian Condor-II ballistic missile. The Iraqis invested a lot of money in the production of the missile, however Ir ...

), however it was discontinued in the early 1990s by President

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...

because of political pressure from the United States. The missile was developed in Falda del Carmen, Córdoba Province. The Condor missile had a range of 800 km to 1,000 km and a 1000CAP1 500 kg

warhead. In 1997, the

reported to the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

that it still possessed two of the missiles that were to be destroyed.

Condor III

There have been reports of a ''Condor III'' program. The Condor III would have an increased range to some with the same payload as the Condor II.

References

External links

Condor 1-AIII
{{Authority control Sounding rockets of Argentina Space programme of Argentina Short-range ballistic missiles Guided missiles of Argentina Abandoned military projects of Argentina Cancelled spacecraft Argentina–Germany relations Argentina–Egypt relations