I have a dying question to ask ?
The original Hez Katyusha rockets have a range of only 12km
(majority stock are of this variant) and was modified to extended
to a range of 18 to 22km. With this modification the rockets are
hardly hand-portable (approx 180kg) and have to be mounted on
trucks, or required to be transported by trucks and launch from
ad-hoc sites... making them quite visible from the air... but still
small enough to be hidden in bushes.
Katyusha rocket launched by Hezbollah
The Fajr-3 has a Max range of 45km and are 40% longer and twice the
diameter (240mm) of the extended Katyusha variant. each are 405
kg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fajr-3_rocket
Fajr-3 pic
The Fajr-5 has a Max range of 75 km and are twice longer (approx.
10m) and 3 times the diameter (333mm) of the extended Katyusah
variant... must have weigh a ton each
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fajr-5
Both Fajr-5 and Fajr-3 are monsters and are definately truck
launched.
Haifa is situated appox. 35km from the Lebanese border. The IDF
have total air coverage in Lebanese South and total land control
10km< inside lebanon. We know that IDF will bomb any trucks in
South Lebanon with impunity.. therefore , even if it was possible
only afew Fajr-3 would get thru.. and IDF would have spotted those
trucks from a far, given South Lebanon terrain.
My question is - How the hell could those Katyusha Rockets even
reach Haifa, which is more than 45 km from the buffer zone, with a
max 22 km range ?
Now there are talks in the western news ,Israeli Military
Intelligence and experts (thousand miles away and without a stride
of evidence) that Lebanese third-generation Katyusha rockets that
can travel up to 50 miles (80 km), but that would make them larger
than the Fajr-3.. and have to be truck mount..
As I say Fajr-3 are quite large with a 45kg warhead and 5.2m long
weighing 405kg... and Fajr-5 wouldn't survive long enough to launch
and it has a 90kg warhead. Both have high damage ratings which does
not corresponds from pics and News media of damage sites in Haifa
hit by rockets. Rockets of these size are not easy to hide, and to
think that Haifa has been hit with 100 rockets(at it's height) and
avg of 60 a day. How do you hide 1200 Fagr-3/5 from the air
anyway.
So, it has to be Katyusha rockets, which Hez manufacture and easy
to hide and transport, but it just do not have the range.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Lebanese sources said Hizbullah tested the Fajr-3 rocket on Aug.
25. The sources said three Fajr-3s were launched about six
kilometers north of the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Hizbullah was said to have deployed up to 15,000 missiles and
rockets in southern Lebanon. The lion's share of the weapons was
said to consist of 107 mm Katyusha rockets, with a range of eight
kilometers.
The Fajr-3 was said to be more than five meters in length and with
a weight of more than 400 kilograms. Hizbullah was also believed to
possess the Fajr-5, a 330 mm rocket with a range of 70
kilometers.
Lebanese sources said the Fajr-3s launched last week flew only six
kilometers and fell three kilometers from each other. They
said this could have marked a failure of the rocket
launch.
"Because of their bulk, the three [Fajr-3] rockets fired on
Thursday would either have been driven to Wadi Salouqi and launched
from the back of a specially adapted truck or fired from a
permanent artillery position," defense analyst Nicholas Blanford
wrote in the Daily Star. "Rogue Palestinians, or their hired hands,
may be able to infiltrate the border zone and 'shoot and scoot'
with a couple of 107 millimeter rockets from time to time, but
launching Fajr-3s is out of their league."
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/TEMP/me_hizbullah_08_29.html
Israel News Agency reported the same . ( but has been taken Down
).. wonder why ?http://www.israelnewsagency.com/iranisraelmissilesnuclear8730918.html
And after less than a year of a fail test, the Fajr-3 work
perfectly now... And able to manufacture and launch 1200 of them in
bushes at Haifa. :shock:
Opinions anyone ?