El Watah Ballistic Missile Base is a new medium-range ballistic missile base found in satellite imagery in Saudi Arabia.
The base is located near the town of El Watah, Saudi Arabia . It is located about 200 km west-south-west of the country's capital, the city of Riyadh , in low rocky mountains. [1] Coordinates of the communication tower in the center of the base: The base is one of three ballistic missile bases that serve the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Forces .
The base is armed with approximately 40 Chinese medium-range ballistic missiles (2000-2800 km, with a warhead weighing up to 2 tons) Dongfeng 3 (CSS-2) [2] from 50-60 pieces purchased from China in 1987. [3] The base has a checkpoint, two launch pads and developed ground infrastructure in the flat part (including two tennis courts), at least 7 separate sites / garages for mobile complexes in a protected mountainous area with a separate checkpoint plus at least 3 wide gates, leading to underground tunnels. Experts based on a study of satellite imagery of the base believe that it was created over the past 5 years, and the location and labeling of the launch pads indicate that the missiles are aimed at Israel (azimuth 301) and Iran (azimuth 10). [4] [5]
Notes
- ↑ Sean O'Connor - IHS Jane's Defense Weekly. “Saudi ballistic missile site revealed” , IHS Jane's Defense Weekly , July 10, 2013.
- ↑ "DongFeng 3 (CSS-2) Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile" Archived on August 14, 2013. , SinoDefence, February 27, 2009.
- ↑ CSS-2A Archived on February 25, 2012. MissileThreat.com
- ↑ Colin Freeman - The Telegraph "Saudi Arabia 'targeting Iran and Israel with ballistic missiles" , The Telegraph , 10 July 2013.
- ↑ Telegraph: “Saudi Arabia aimed ballistic missiles at Iran and Israel,” NEWSru.co.il/ , July 11, 2013.