It's a Scud, Scud, Scud World

摘要

The Scud B is the most popular ballistic missile in the world. It can be found from Vietnam to Slovakia to Yemen to the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was used in the Iran-Iraq war, the Afghan-Soviet war, and the Gulf war. Afghanistan's Northern Alliance reportedly deployed Scuds in its offensive on Kabul last November. Just where did all these Scuds come from? The Scud's lineage dates back to the German V-2 rocket, the granddaddy of ballistic missiles. The V-2 (that's "V" for vengeance) was first used by Hitler in 1944 against Britain. Brits called them "Bob Hopes"―you bobbed down and hoped. In the following five decades, the V-2-derived, 300-kilometer Soviet Scud B missile became the slingshot of choice in the backpockets of many developing nations, and it now lies at the heart of missile proliferation problems. Iraq cannibalized some of its Soviet-obtained Scud Bs to make new, supposedly improved, generations of Scud-based missiles. The Al-Hussein could fly 600 kilometers, and the AI-Abbas 800 kilometers, but both were horribly inaccurate. The range-challenged Al-Samoud was considered a failure, dubbed by U.S. intelligence a "scaled-down Scud." Today, the status of Iraq's missile program is unknown; the Gulf war cease-fire agreement called for dismantling Iraqi missiles, but some believe Iraq has a hidden arsenal.