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-5Both 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.htmlIsrael News Agency reported the same . ( but has been taken Down ).. wonder why ?
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/iranisraelmissilesnuclear8730918.htmlAnd 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 ?