Project Koussar, also known as Project Kowsar, is an alleged intermediate range or

intercontinental Intercontinental is an adjective to describe something which relates to more than one continent. Intercontinental may also refer to: * Intercontinental ballistic missile, a long-range guided ballistic missile * InterContinental Hotels Group ( ...

ballistic missile program of the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Overview

The program is allegedly an IRBM with a range of 4,000 to 5,000 km. The book ''Iran's Military Forces and Warfighting Capabilities'' by Anthony H. Cordesman and Martin Kleiber mentions Project Koussar in its description of the

Shahab-5 Shahab-5 ( fa, شهاب ۵, meaning "Meteor-5") is Iranian long-range ballistic missile, that was rumoured to exist as early as 1998. Estimated to be based on the North Korean Taepodong-2 with a first stage based on the Soviet RD-0216. Potential ran ...

and

Shahab-6 Shahab-6 ( fa, شهاب ۶, meaning "Meteor-6", or Toghyân, Persian: ) is the designation of an alleged Iranian long-range ballistic missile project. Capabilities According to reports released in 1996, the missile has a range of about 14,000 kilo ...

missile projects, which also are allegedly based on the

RD-216 The RD-215 (GRAU Index 8D513) was a dual nozzle liquid rocket engine, burning AK-27 (a mixture of 73% nitric acid and 27% N2O4 + iodine passivant) and UDMH. It was used in a module of two engines (four nozzles) known as the RD-216 (GRAU Index ...

engine. According to the book, "the effort to develop an ICBM with the Russian RD-216 engine in some sources has been named 'Project Koussar.' There reports bout the missile projectsremain uncertain, and Israeli media and official sources have repeatedly exaggerated the nature and speed of Iranian efforts."Cordesman, Kleiber: Iran's Military Forces and Warfighting Capabilities
Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007 The book ''Tehran Rising'' by

Ilan Berman Ilan I. Berman (born December 23, 1975) is an American lawyer and educator. He is the Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council, a non-profit U.S. foreign policy think tank in Washington, DC. He focuses on regional security in the M ...

also mentions the missile project. According to the book, "Opposition groups have charged that Iran's overt missile development masks a much larger clandestine endeavor - one that encompasses both the 4,000-kilometer range Shahab-5 and even a follow in intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) known as the 'Kowsar'. This assessment rings true; according to U.S. intelligence officials, Iran is now estimated to have made sufficient headway to allow for testing of ICBM components in 2005."Ilan Berman: Tehran Rising
Rowman & Littlefield, 2007
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References

{{Iran Missiles Post–Cold War weapons of Iran Military equipment of Iran Ballistic missiles of Iran