SBIRS—Wow!!
This post has been updated as of 4:02 pm on Friday. Sometimes you see a picture that is simply so amazing you have trouble believing it is real. That was the case with two images the Air Force released from…
Geoff Forden
Writing on ACW 2008–2010 · 142 posts
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Trim the Shrubs
I recently heard a funny story about the negotiations for the START II treaty. It turns out that when the US START II treaty negotiators tried to explain to their Russian counterparts the need for a “strategic reserve” of nuclear…
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In GoogleEarth, Shadows are Your Friend
If you are anything like me, you suffer a death of a thousand cuts when you see something on GoogleEarth and want to know how tall it is. For instance, you can measure the diameters of Iran’s heavy water exchange…
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Kavosh at its Peak
Well, I don’t know that its at its peak, perhaps the payload continued on for quite a ways. But what interested me about this picture (other than its really cool and it indicates that Iran is definitely studying its “staging”…
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Once again, Iran launches a space rocket…
Iran’s missile and rocket activity is really amazing! The media is reporting that Iran has once again launched a rocket into space. (see this Reuters report ) This time it is the “Kavosh 2”, which I assume is just a…
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Designing Iran’s ICBM from the Ground Up
Click on the image for a larger view. Regular readers of the wonk will know that I originally thought Iran would have invested its initial time and effort in developing a new, more energetic, propellant rather than a new thrust…
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Build New or Buy Old?
Up until about a year ago, potential home owners in the US had to ask themselves “Do I want to buy new or go with an existing home?” (Now, of course, there aren’t any potential home buyers.) Missile proliferators have…
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Sejil Reconsidered
Many people have written in objecting to my theory that the Sejil uses liquid propellant steering engines for thrust vector control and, I have to admit, that they have had some very good arguments. Perhaps the most persuasive arguments have…
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Clustering Engines, Adding Up the Weights
In an unfortunately title article in Jane’s Intelligence Review (“Safir When Ready: Iran sets its sights on long-range capability”; sorry, its subscription only) I discussed why I interpreted pictures of the test-stand version of a Safir second stage as indicating…
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Moving ‘em Out to Move Them Up
Yesterday, I discussed the possibility that Iran was learning techniques that might help them utilize higher energy fuels such as UDMH and nitric acid. However, the evidence for such use is rather minimal. The case we examined yesterday was not…