U.S. Forces Struggling to Counter Iran’s Kheibar Shekan Ballistic Missile.

Iran’s Kheibar Shekan medium-range ballistic missile has emerged as one of the most significant challenges to the U.S.-led war effort against the country, with U.S. officials increasingly warning that the weapon’s improving performance and more sophisticated employment are complicating regional missile defence efforts. U.S. officials have reportedly become increasingly concerned not only by the missile itself, but also by the way it is now being employed. Rather than launching missiles along predictable trajectories, Iranian forces have increasingly combined varied flight paths, differing speeds, manoeuvring re-entry vehicles and coordinated drone attacks designed to complicate defensive responses. Such tactics force U.S. and allied missile defence systems to expend substantially larger numbers of expensive interceptors while reducing the probability of successful interceptions. 

The Kheibar Shekan’s manoeuvrable nose section has attracted particular attention. Unlike conventional ballistic missiles that follow relatively predictable terminal trajectories, the missile is capable of making adjustments during the final stages of flight, reducing the effectiveness of existing missile defence systems. Travelling at hypersonic velocities during re-entry, the missile provides defenders with only a very limited engagement window while simultaneously forcing interceptors to contend with last-minute manoeuvres. The missile’s design lineage is thought to trace back to Iranian procurements of North Korean Hwasong-10 ballistic missiles in the 2000s, with North Korean technology transfers having since played an important role in supporting the rapid modernisation of Iran’s missile industry. 

Developed to equip the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, the Kheibar Shekan is a solid-fuel medium-range ballistic missile capable of striking targets up to approximately 1,450 kilometres away. Unlike many of Iran’s older liquid-fuel ballistic missiles, the solid-fuel design allows significantly faster launch preparation, reducing vulnerability to pre-emptive strikes while allowing launchers to relocate rapidly after firing. The missile is road-mobile and can be launched from transporter-erector-launchers, making it considerably more survivable than fixed launch systems. 

Source: https://militarywatchmagazine.com

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