A New Scud-Type Warhead Appears Across Syria

On February 26th of this year the following video from Aleppo was posted on Youtube

What this appears to be is a cargo warhead for a large rocket or missile, designed to carry a payload such as cluster bomblets.  Since then the same type of warhead has appeared at a number of locations across Syria, with the following video being a clear example from Aahal, Mayadeen, Deir Ez Zor

Other examples have appeared elsewhere in Deir Ez Zor, including the recently captured city of Raqqa on March 26th.

The problem is, I cannot pin down the exact type of warhead this is, or the system it's used on.  Some people have suggested it might be from a 9K79 Tochka/OTR-21 tactical ballistic missile, which can use a cargo warhead, but I've been unable to find solid evidence to support that.  I'm certain this is from a large surface-to-surface missile or rocket, and almost 100% sure it's a cargo warhead, but frustratingly I've been unable to find a perfect match.  If anyone has a good idea of what this is (or even better, reference images), please feel free to comment below or send me an email.


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You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

Mystery Solved! - Remains Of A Large Unidentified Missile/Rocket Film In Syria

Update December 17th Thanks to the many people who made a variety of suggestions for the identity of the missile, and I believe we now know what this is.  It appears to be part of a S-200 surface to air missile, specifically the "PRD-81/5S25/5S28 solid propellant booster using RAM-10K filler with 3-5 sec burn duration".  How it got into that field is still a mystery, but it seems we can exclude this video from examples of surface to surface missile in Syria. 

Update December 19th Thanks to @massdall for this video which gives a clear view of the booster described above.

In the past week there's been numerous reports in the press of claims by US and NATO officials of Scud missiles being fired at opposition forces in Syria.  Since then a number of videos have been posted online claiming to show Scud missile launches, but none have been clear enough to make a positive ID, for example

The Syrian military has a variety of tactical ballistic missiles including Soviet, North Korean, and Iranian missiles, so it cannot be assumed these launches are Scud missiles.

Today two videos were posted online showing the remains of a large missile, possibly the first example of tactical ballistic missile remains being filmed in Syria

The missile is covered with Russian text, but the markings don't give much useful information, with most of it appearing to be basic technical information and information about the correct method of transport, none of which provides enough detail to make a positive ID.  As the text is in Russian it means the following missiles used by the Syrian military are the most likely suspects

• FROG-7 (Luna-M)
• OTR-21 Tochka/KN-02 Toksa (Viper)
• Scud-B, C, and D

From what I can tell the missile in the video is too thin to be a Scud, and the OTR-21/KN-02 doesn't appear to have tail fins in the same position, so that would leave the FROG-7.  However, due to the damage on the missile it's difficult to find matching features, so for now I'll have to leave this one as an unidentified missile. 

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You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com