Iran parades Khorramshahr ballistic missile with new RV

The annual military parade in Tehran on 21 September included a Khorramshahr ballistic missile fitted with a notably smaller re-entry vehicle (RV) that would give it a longer range.

Two Khorramshahr ballistic missiles featured in the 21 September parade, one with a previously unseen and smaller re-entry vehicle (left), the other with the original re-entry vehicle (right). (Fars News Agency / Student News Network)

Unveiled in the September 2017 parade and widely believed to be based on the North Korean BM-25, the Khorramshahr reportedly has a range of 2,000 km with a warhead weighing 1,800 kg, giving it a far heavier payload capability over that distance than Iran’s Shahab-3 family of missiles.

The development of a smaller RV for the Khorramshahr was noted in March, when France, Germany, and the United Kingdom sent a joint letter to the Security Council saying one had been publicly displayed during the Ten Days of Dawn event in Tehran on 4 February. No images showing this variant appear to have been released at that time.

“Modelling the Khorramshahr booster with this smaller re-entry vehicle indicates the missile’s maximum range is likely to have increased from 2,000 km to approximately 3,000 km. The Khorramshahr is therefore potentially an intermediate-range ballistic missile,” the joint letter said.

A Qiam missile with a manoeuvring re-entry vehicle was also displayed in the parade. (Student News Network)