Condor missile - Definition and Overview

This article is about the Argentinian/German/Middle Eastern Condor ballistic missile program. There is another article on the US Navy's totally different AGM-53 Condor, an air-to-surface missile.

The Argentinian Condor missile program started in the 1970s as a multinational space research program with significant contract work being performed by German company MBB (now a group within DaimlerChrysler).

The original Condor had little military capability but was used to build expertise that went into to the Alacran program which was a functional short range ballistic missile. Shortly after the development of the Alacran, work on a medium-range missile began. The Condor 2 program was in close collaboration with Egypt and then Iraq. Libya is believed to have assumed the Condor 2 project around 1995. Extensive shifts in the Middle East have obscured the exact status of the Condor 2 program, but it is clearly the most promising of the Libyan missile programs.

Reports of a Condor 3 program are extensive. The Condor 3 would have an increased range to some 1,500 km (932 miles) with the same payload as the Condor 2. It is however likely that this program ended with the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq.

Specifications

• Length: 10.50 m
• Diameter: 0.80 m
• Weight: 5,200 kg
• Warhead: Single (HE or chemical), 450 kg
• Range: 900 km
• Propulsion: 2-stage solid/liquid