Fergie's Tech Blog

Defense Tech: Iran May Launch its Own Spy Satellite

Via UPI.

The Israeli debka.com Web site, which maintains a wide circle of sources within Israeli intelligence, has claimed that Tehran may soon launch its own surveillance satellite. The booster vehicle would be a BM25 ballistic missile, "18 of which were purchased from North Korea, notwithstanding Pyongyang's denials of aid to Iran's nuclear program," Debka said in a report published Jan. 28.

Allaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy commission, claimed last month that Iran had already constructed its own surveillance satellite and that it had already "converted a ballistic missile into a space launcher," Debka said.

"If this claim is correct, then Iran has a launcher able to put 300 kilograms (660 pounds) into earth orbit -- and by the same definition, an ICBM that could drop more than 300 kilograms anywhere in the world, including Washington DC," Debka said.

posted by Fergie @ 2/07/2007 11:14:00 AM