Iran fires underground ballistic missiles for first time [then they knew they should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque]

al-Jazeera ^ | July 29, 2020 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard said it launched ballistic missiles from "the depths of the Earth" on Wednesday during the last day of military exercises near sensitive Gulf waters.

A video posted online by a news agency linked to Iran's state TV showed clouds of dust before the missiles streaked into the sky.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement it was "the first time in the world" that such an exercise had been carried out.

It hailed "the successful launch of ballistic missiles from the depths of the Earth in a completely camouflaged way" as an "important achievement that could pose serious challenges to enemy intelligence organisations".

The IRGC said it also released bombs from Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to target predetermined positions on Bani Farur Island in Iran's territorial waters.

[SunkenCiv]

An Iranian cruise missile is fired during war games near the entrance to the Gulf [File: West Asia News Agency via Reuters]

[SunkenCiv]

"Death to the mullahs, the mullahs must be killed." -- Iranian student protesters

[Jewbacca]

Since when do cruise missiles have an afterburn five times the length of the missile?

Being unnoticed is kinda their strength

[SunkenCiv]

They're *five times as good* that way. /s

[RedElement]

Solid fuel booster for a fanjet sustainer.

[beethovenfan]

Stuxnet 3.0 will take care of it.

[plain talk]

Seems measures could be taken to make this approach rather difficult for them.

[mass55th]

Is that one of the missiles that took down the Ukraine airliner?

[Steely Tom]

Is that one of the missiles that took down the Ukraine airliner?

That one sure went into the memory hole.

[Mariner]

Missiles in Silos are little more than cheap targets if you can’t control your own airspace.

Especially when the only warning you have of an attack is when your ass is on fire.

[The Antiyuppie]

If they actually go through the planet and pop out on the other side, they may actually have something there.

[Jewbacca]

No. That’s a surface to surface missile.

[jdsteel]

Pssst, Iran...ever hear of the Nike missiles???

[Jewbacca]

It looks like a Soviet kh-55, which doesn’t have a solid booster. Of course it’s dropped from a plane.

Still strange it is going horizontal with the booster.

[Jewbacca]

They wouldn’t work against a cruise missile.

In fact, there are really no great defensive measures to take against a low flying cruise missile. Yet.

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

Nice little underground silos you got their, Iran. It would be a shame if anything happened to them.

[Spktyr]

That’s because it’s likely a copy or development of the similar looking Rk-55. Easy to get them confused. The Rk-55 looks like a Kh-55 but is surface launched.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RK-55

[Spktyr]

Fast aircraft with look-down shoot-down capability is one option, but it has to be in the air where the missiles are, at the time when the missiles are there...

[Jewbacca]

Having flown fast attack aircraft with look down tech my entire adult life, you might be right in theory, but it would never happen except by dumb luck.

[ALASKA]

I know I won’t be sleeping tonight.