Iraqi homemade Al-Fat'h SRM
(Saddam Hussein's tactical surface-to-surface missiles)

Norbert Brügge, Germany
 


Despite the limitations imposed by the UN sanctions and the international arms embargo, Iraq was able to produce and field the domestically designed Al-Fat�h composite solid-propellant ballistic missile. The goal of the program, which commenced in July 1999, was to develop a missile that could deliver a 300-kg payload to a range of 150 km.
The Al-Fat�h missile was a solid-propellant ballistic missile weighing approximately 1,200 kg with an overall length of approximately 6.3 meters and a diameter of 0.5 meter for the main body and 1.4 meters with the aft fin assembly. The airframe was primarily constructed from 4 mm thick 30CrMoV9 sheet steel. Iraq lacked maraging steel sheets of sufficient size and quantity to manufacture Al-Fat�h motor cases. Without maraging steel, the Al- Fat�h motor case had to be constructed from 30CrMoV9 sheet steel. The aft fin assemblies and nose cones were constructed of aluminum.
For propulsion, the Al-Fat'h utilized a motor that weighed between 770 kg and 856 kg (828 kg ?). Manufacturing the Al-Fat�h solid-propellant motor presented several challenges. Specifically, Iraq lacked preferred materials for the motor case and insufficient solid-propellant mixing capacity.
The two planned Al-Fat'h missiles utilized different guidence systems. The unguided Al-Fat�h used simple aft stabilization fins. The guided version of the Al-Fat�h would have had a relatively complicated control system, with canards, actuators, and a strapdown INS with an indigenously developed computer and imported gyroscopes and accelerometers.


           
         Al-Fat'h





Is the nozzle a replica of Argentina's Alacran missile ?


Al-Fat�h Propellant Formulation

Compound

 % by mass

Ammonium Perchlorate

 70

Aluminium Powder

 14

Hydroxy Terminated Poly Butadiene (HTPB)

 11-12

Dioctyl Azelate/Dioctyl Adepate

 3.5

Ferric Oxide

 1

2,4-Toluene Diisocyanate

1

Tri [1-(2-Methyl Aziridinyl)] Phosphine Oxide

  
   



Al-Fat'h motor grain


Insertion of carbon throat in the nozzle




Al-Fat'h motor nozzle (Argentina's Alacran nozzle ?)