Do Saudis have long-range missiles?/ Report says Riyadh can hit Israel with payloads thanks to China

WorldNetDaily ^ | 8/12/02

[kattracks]

Report says Riyadh can hit Israel with payloads thanks to China

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Posted: August 12, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

A report in the Israeli Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot provides extensive details of Saudi Arabia’s acquisition from China over the last decade of 120 long-range missiles capable of hitting targets up to 3,500 kilometers away with large conventional, nuclear, chemical or biological payloads.

Map shows missile range

The CSS-2, or Dong-Peng 3, missiles are based, the report says, in the El-Solayil desert oasis about 500 kilometers from Riyadh, with a smaller quantity at Al-Jofar, about 100 kilometers from the city.

The newspaper commissioned civilian satellite photography of the secret military installation at El-Solayil earlier this year. It purports to show intensive construction in the region stretching over hundreds of square miles. The report says the Saudis have 12 missile launchers and have built approach roads, command centers, a huge residential area, a mosque for engineers and a large area of bunkers with a storage capacity of over 60,000 cubic meters.

Just east of the missile base positioned in narrow, hidden ravines is a Saudi air force base with two squadrons of Tornado jet fighters.

The report says there are 33 buildings in the support area – eight of them large enough to store CSS-2 missiles each 24 meters in length. It says the weapons storage compound spread over a 1,400-square-kilometer area is too large for a CSS-2 missile base alone and likely serves other secret purposes. It includes more than 60 fortified buildings for weapons storage.

CSS-2 missile

The deal with China for purchase of the missiles was negotiated by Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, the Saudis' ambassador to Washington, according to Yediot Ahronot.

According to the report, both U.S. and Israeli intelligence have been aware of the Saudi missiles for years. The Saudis reportedly told the Americans the missiles were needed to defend themselves from Iran and that their purchase was arranged after the U.S. refused to sell Riyadh F15 fighters in 1985. King Fahd reportedly promised the U.S that the Saudis would not place chemical or nuclear warheads on the missiles and would never use them in a first strike. He also reportedly promised Saudi Arabia would not take part in the development of nuclear warheads, but it has bankrolled Pakistan’s “Islamic bomb” project.

The report claims the Saudis have refused to allow U.S. inspectors in to see the Al-Solayil site.

The CSS-2 missile is the main weapon of the Chinese non-conventional arsenal. At the time the purchase was negotiated, it was the most advanced missile in China’s arsenal. It is a knockoff of the Russian R-12/SS-4, propelled by liquid fuel and can be launched from a storage facility or a mobile launch pad. With an error range of 2.5 kilometers, it is not designed for pinpoint targeting, but rather for large targets such as population centers.

The same missile is used by the Chinese for launching satellites into space.

In 1983, according to the report, the Chinese initiated a program to lengthen the range of the CSS-2 from 2,650 kilometers to 3,500. The payload can include as many as three nuclear warheads.

About 1,000 Chinese engineers participated in building the site, says the report. Chinese engineers are still responsible for maintaining the missiles. The purchase was part of a 30-year contract between the two nations.

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[Joe Boucher]

I'd truely love to see the a-holes in Saudi Arabia launch just one volley of rockets from their corrupt piece of crap country at Israel. Then it would be fun to watch Israel counterpunch the life out of most in saudi arabia.
Next up Iraq and Saddam, let's roll.

[11B3]

Ah yes, our good friends the Saudis and the ChiComs.....At least these are liquid fuel rockets that take about 15 minutes (minimum) to prepare for launch. That is only with a very good crew, so probably about 30 minutes in this case.

If we're ever going to win this war, we have to take it to the main players, and they are both in this article. China spreads its' terror all over the earth - supported by our shopping at stores like WalMart (2% of the entire US GDP flows through WalMart), while the Saudis supply almost all of China's oil. No doubt they do a lot of "trading".

STOP ALL TRADE WITH CHINA!!!!

[meenie]

Why has the US been so secretive about this? Wouldn't a good response to the China sale have been a refusal to let China into the WTO? Wouldn't it have been wise to inform the American people what their oil from Saudi is costing in real terms? Wouldn't it make it easier to drill off-shore and in ANWR if the people were informed of what Saudi is doing? Why the conspiracy of silence?

[American in Israel]

I wonder how much Saudi-Arabia just paid the Chinese to have its a$$ stomped into the dust of the desert? I think the only thing the ended up buying were some very big cans of whoop-ass. Liquid fuel rockets can be detected in load sequence by elint. As it will take 10 minutes for Israel to detect, target, launch and land a nuke, I figure not a one of these liquid fueled turkys will ever leave the ground.

Gosh, these Islamics are stupid.

[American in Israel]

Last year when Sadam dragged out his skuds (also liquid fueled dinosaurs) and started fueling them up, he had Israeli Jets loaded with nukes flying over his borders before he reached launch sequence. He decided to put his toys away, and the Israeli's went home for dinner. (No I am not BS'n ya, we were 5 minutes from nuclear war last year).

[Poohbah]

Liquid fuel rockets can be detected in load sequence by elint.

This is only true if the Saudis do not use landlines for communications between the Saudi National Command Authority and the launch site. And the Saudis are many things; however, they are not stupid when it comes to C4ISR.

[Publius6961]

So you think Saudi Arabia would get off more than one shot?

They better make it a good one!

[American in Israel]

Hope you are wrong! -grin- Time will tell just how good that new satellite Israel launched is. I bet that it is a save bet that those bases have people looking at them (with a magnifing glass) as we speak.

[Prodigal Son]

If/when Israel's satellite sees a launch, the US better jump in quick and help with Israeli targeting, because half of her missiles may be going for the Saudi oil fields...

I say destroy their oil fields. Only 8 percent of our oil comes from Saudi anyway. I would suffer a tripling of gas prices in order to wipe Saudi off the map. The world would be much better off without them and we could eventually get to those oil fields again one day. I'm in a bad mood today, tell you what- I'd ride horseback if it meant we could get rid of the entire Middle East and turn "Islam" into a funny story to tell our grandkids...

[Wondervixen]

(mock suprise on)

Wherever could the Chinese have gotten such technology to pass on to the Arabs like that??? We must pressure ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC to fully investigate and trace this link...Get to the bottom of this Peter, Dan, Tom, Chris, etc...TELL US!!!

(mock suprise off)

[kabar]

This is old news. The Chinese started installing these IRBMs in the late 1980's. US Ambassador Hume Horan was removed after protesting their installation. The White House bowed to Saudi pressure from Prince Bandar and blamed Horan for delivering too strong a demarche and acting unilaterally. Horan, a skilled arabist with many years experience in the region and perfect command of arabic, written and spoken, had also been pushing the envelope on communications with opposition leaders in the Kingdom and gaining greater access for female US diplomats in high level meetings with the Saudis. Many saw the Chinese missile flap as a pretext for Horan's removal.

[American in Israel]

Great fill in! Thanks!!

[sharktrager]

Let me see if I have this straight.

We found out about these missles years ago, and accepted the Saudi excuse that they needed them to be protected from Iran. But Iran does not border on Saudi Arabia, and has a navy consisting of small powerboats. Additionally, we have enough forces in the area to thwart any aggression if we see fit.

How, exactly, did we think Iran was going to attack? Was Allah going to miracle their asses in to Suadi Arabia?

[Ancesthntr]

Last year when Sadam dragged out his skuds (also liquid fueled dinosaurs) and started fueling them up, he had Israeli Jets loaded with nukes flying over his borders before he reached launch sequence. He decided to put his toys away, and the Israeli's went home for dinner. (No I am not BS'n ya, we were 5 minutes from nuclear war last year).

I know you're not a BSer, but what is your source for this?

[American in Israel]

When the US and the Brits did that shut down your skuds or else strike it was rumored in a few places that Israeli Jets joined the Air wing. The were not carrying leaflets.

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

What??? Where on earth did you hear that Saddam was about to nuke Israel last year?

[mmmmmmmm....... donuts]

Sorry, didn't post quick enough to see you already responded.

Interestingly, I don't think Saddam's going to hit Israel this time. Last time it made sense, it was a strategy to get the coalition to divide. This time, there is no coalition to divide, so there's no real advantage to it.

[American in Israel]

It may make sense to create an Islamic coalition. What a deal for Israel, bombed if they do, bombed if they dont.