A short quick history of the Al-Hussein missile.

 

 

  During the 1980s, in the war between Iran and Iraq; the Iraqis found that their Soviet made SCUD B missiles could not reach the Iranian capital of Tehran.  The Iraqis needed a missile with more range, and so Saddam Hussein set his best engineers to work on a longer range missile.  After several failed attempts to crate their own missile, the Iraqi engineers began a program of reverse engineering, taking apart the Soviet SCUDs, and trying to duplicate them, and re-engineer a missile to suit Iraqi needs.  The result with the most success was the AL-HUSSEIN SCUD variant.

  The Al-Hussein was made by cannibalizing 1 out of every 3 Soviet SCUD-B missiles and using them to create 2 lengthened variations.  The AL-HUSSEIN used a warhead lightened from the 800K weight, to only about 190K; and larger fuel capacity.  The UDMH fuel was a combination of the actual fuel-kerosene, and an oxidizer-red fuming Nitric acid.  The oxidizer tank was lengthened by 85cms, and the fuel tank by 45cms.  The new overall length was 12,46meters and it had a range of 600kms, vs. the normal SCUD range of 280kms.  Since it used the same guidance system as on the original Scuds, it had a decreased effective radius at longer ranges, varying from 1.6km to 3.3 kilometers for a strike zone.  Often the missile was so unstable upon re-entry that it often broke apart before reaching its intended target.  It was still considered a success, and was launched successfully against Tehran, and began what was known as the War of the Cities.

 

 

  Later during the 1991 Gulf War, the missile was used against Coalition forces and Israel. Launches at Israel were an attempt to goad them into a fight which might bring the other Arab nations to the aid of Iraq in a fight against Israel, and its allies.  Although it is reported now that none of the missiles contained chemical weapons, there were several scares due to the breaking apart of the missile, which spread a yellowish cloud of the Nitric Acid oxidizer, causing irritation of the throat, lungs, and redness of the skin to anyone who happened to be underneath where the cloud fell.

  Israel displayed great restraint in staying out of the fight.   Of the 93 total missiles launched during Operation Desert Storm, 88 were the Al-Hussein variant, with 42 launched against Israel, and 46 launched against coalition forces, resulting in 28 deaths among Coalition troops.

   Another interesting variant of the Al-Hussein is the AL-Hijara; which means "The Stones".  Although it appeared identical to the AL-Hussein, the warhead was of concrete.

 

 

The Al Hussein Model Kit Is Available In Either In A .zip Or In A .rar file Below:

(The kit includes all of the parts pages in .tiffs and the instructions in a .pdf.)

Al_Hussein_Scud_kit_092205.zip

Al_Hussein_Scud_kit_092205.rar