The

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian Oghab (, meaning "Eagle") sometimes spelled as Akab and Okab missile is an unguided

artillery rocket Rocket artillery is artillery that uses rocket (weapon), rockets as the projectile. The use of rocket artillery dates back to medieval China where devices such as fire arrows were used (albeit mostly as a Psychological warfare, psychological weapo ...

with a range of . It is spin-stabilized in flight but has a proven

circular error probable Circular error probable (CEP),Circular Error Probable (CEP), Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Technical Paper 6, Ver 2, July 1987, p. 1 also circular error probability or circle of equal probability, is a measure of a weapon s ...

in excess of , making it a highly inaccurate weapon. It carries a

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

fragmentation warhead, though it may also be able to carry

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

warheads. According to US sources, a modified version has been developed that could be carried and fired from Iranian Air Force

F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, tandem two-seat, twin-tail, all-weather-capable variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...

and

F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber that was developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bower ...

aircraft. The launcher is an elevatable triple-rail launcher assembly fitted to a

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

LA 911B 4×4 truck chassis.

History

The missile was developed from the Chinese Type-83 artillery rocket during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

, with the assistance of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

under an agreement signed in 1985. It entered service in 1986 and was immediately used in combat in an attack on the Iraqi city of

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

in December 1986. Around 260–270 Oghabs were reportedly fired during the war, though their effectiveness was limited. The missile's short range confined its use to attacks on Iraqi border cities and its lack of accuracy meant that Oghab attacks were far less effective than artillery barrages. The Oghab was used by the Iranian Army and the Revolutionary Guards. It is known to have been exported to Hezbollah.

Variants

The

Houthi The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydi Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadership being drawn largely ...

al-Najm al-Thaqib (missile) The al-Najm al-Thaqib (Arabic:النجم الثاقب, "piercing star") is a Yemeni missile system developed by the Houthis and revealed on 26 May 2015. The Houthis claimed that these missiles could violate the blockade imposed by UN resolution ...

also shows similarities to the oghab missile. It has not been seen since the Iran-Iraq War and is believed to be out of service.

References

Other sources

* Anthony H. Cordesman. ''Iran's Military Forces in Transition: Conventional Threats and Weapons of Mass Destruction'', p. 296. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. * Anthony H. Cordesman, Martin Kleiber. ''Iran's Military Forces and Warfighting Capabilities'', p. 60. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. * "Aerospace Industries Organization 230 mm OGHAB artillery rocket system (Iran)". ''Jane's Armour and Artillery'', 2008.

External links

*
NTI: Country Overviews: Iran: Missile Capabilities
. Nuclear Threat Initiative, February 2006. {{Iran Missiles Rocket artillery Self-propelled artillery of Iran 230 mm artillery Military equipment introduced in the 1980s