Egypt is developing long-range ballistic missile capability, worrying both Israel and the United States, a senior Egyptian strategist was quoted by the Middle East Newsline (MENL).
Ahmed Abdul Halim, a retired Egyptian general and deputy director of the Cairo-based National Center for Middle East Studies, said President Hosni Mubarak has threatened to use the long-range missiles against Israel in any future war, the agency said.
Early on March 12th, Abdul Halim said in a lecture at Amman that “a joint Israeli-US missile defense exercise held last month in the Negev desert was meant to warn Egypt against using ballistic missiles against the Jewish state.”
Meanwhile, Israeli sources had said the exercise was meant to test capabilities to withstand an Iraqi missile attack, said MENL.
"The exercises were a message by the United States to Egypt that Washington will stand by Israel if Cairo considers taking any military action against Tel Aviv," Abdul Halim said. "The exercise also aimed at enhancing Israel's ballistic missile defence system in which the United States played a major role in developing.”
Abdul Halim's assertion was the first by an Egyptian aligned with the Mubarak regime that Cairo is developing intermediate- and long-range ballistic missiles, according to the agency.
He said Israel was alarmed by Egyptian threats to a warning from an Israeli parliamentarian that in any future war with Egypt, Israel could strike the Aswan Dam.
One is the Project T program, expected to produce nearly 100 missiles based on the Scud C by 2005, those have a range of 450 kilometers and can strike any target in Israel.
Another project is being carried out in a joint venture with North Korea to extend the Scud C to a range of up to 1,200 kilometers.
A third program is the continuation of a two-stage solid-fuel missile based on the defunct Condor program with Argentina and Iraq. This missile is expected to have a range of at least 900 kilometers and has been taken over by North Korea – Albawaba.com
