Word: scud
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...took the threat seriously enough to beg Israel in advance not to launch a pre-emptive attack. Washington promised in return to make the Scud missiles in western Iraq, the ones targeted on Israel, a primary target of the first alliance bombing raids. They were hit, and hard, at the start of the war. As the first 24 hours ticked by without an assault, hope grew that Saddam had been prevented from trying his cynical gambit...
Washington and London immediately began a strenuous effort to persuade Israel not to retaliate, and the Arab allies not to abandon the coalition if it did. The U.S. stepped up its aerial search for Scud missiles that could be fired from hard-to-locate mobile launchers. Most if not all the Scuds launched from fixed sites -- that is, silos -- were believed to have been taken out in the first attack. Within hours, American planes had destroyed six of the truck launchers, three with missiles inside. One other Scud missile had been launched earlier against Saudi Arabia, but was blown...
Weapons experts are quick to point out the deficiencies of the Scud missile. It is unwieldy and inaccurate, practically antique, a dinosaur compared with the sleek and precise Tomahawk cruise missile. But clumsiness can still be dangerous -- as Israel discovered when a dozen Scuds came galumphing into Tel Aviv and Haifa last week. Designed by the Soviets to deliver nuclear warheads over a short range, the Scud can miss its mark by as much as a mile. It is most effective against large cities, where the goal is not to hit a specific target but to terrorize the population. During...
...outside Iraq knows for certain how many Scuds Saddam Hussein had in his arsenal before war broke out last week. Estimates run between 500 and 800. Baghdad possessed as many as 32 fixed launchers in silos and at least 36 mobile ones mounted on huge eight-wheel trucks. After the first air raids, most fixed launchers were destroyed, but some 15 mobile Scuds survived. It takes about five hours to prepare a Scud...
...long Scud traces its lineage to a 1940s design for the V-2 rocket, which the Nazis propelled into London in the waning days of World War II. NATO dubbed it the SS-1A Scunner, code-named Scud for short. The Scud-A evolved into the larger and longer-range Scud-B. By the early 1980s, the Soviets had begun phasing out Scuds in favor of the more versatile SS-23 surface-to-surface missile. However, Moscow did not stop selling the old workhorse. As a Soviet client, Baghdad took deliveries of the ballistic missile and improved on its range...