Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 14, 2026

Condor (Argentine missile)

The Argentine Condor missile was a multinational space research program started in the 1970s. It involved significant contract work being performed by German company MBB, but later developed into a ballistic missiles program.

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Emblem of the Dirección General de Desarrollos Espaciales (Directorate General of Space Developments), the Argentine Air Force group in charge of the project source ↗

The Argentine Condor missile was a multinational space research program started in the 1970s. It involved significant contract work being performed by German company MBB (now a group within Daimler AG), but later developed into a ballistic missiles program.

Condor I

The original Condor1 had little military capability but helped build expertise that was later used for the Alacrán missile program.23 The Alacrán program developed a functional short-range ballistic missile.

Specifications (Condor I)

  • Length: 8 metres (26 ft)
  • Maximum diameter: 70 centimetres (28 in)
  • Stages: 1
  • Fuel: HTPB
  • Guidance system: inertial
  • Apogee: 300 kilometres (190 mi)
  • Range: 100 kilometres (62 mi)
  • Payload: 500 kilograms (1,100 lb)

Alacrán (Condor IAIII)

Alacrán Missile, derived from the earlier Condor IAIII source ↗

The Alacrán missile was a short range ballistic missile derived from the Condor Missile Program.4

Derived from the Condor IAIII prototype, the Alacrán missile had shorter stabilization fins, an inertial guidance system, and a 1000CAP1 cluster warhead.

Specifications (Condor IAIII - Alacrán)

  • Length: 8 metres (26 ft)
  • Maximum diameter: 70 centimetres (28 in)
  • Stages: 1
  • Fuel: HTPB
  • Guidance system: inertial
  • Apogee: 100 kilometres (62 mi)
  • Range: 115 kilometres (71 mi)
  • Warhead: 1000CAM1 cluster munition warhead, 500 kilograms (1,100 lb)

Condor II

Condor II prototypes in several stages of completion. Location: El Chamical Air Force testing grounds. source ↗

During and after the 1982 Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas), France (which initially supplied the missiles) placed an arms embargo on Argentina, causing the Argentine Air Force, under the command of Ernesto Crespo, to develop its own medium-range missile in the Condor II5 program.

This program was undertaken in close collaboration with Egypt,6 and then Ba'athist Iraq7 (the Iraqi version of the missile was called BADR-2000).8 However, it was discontinued in the early 1990s by President Carlos Menem because of political pressure from the United States.910 The missile was developed in Falda del Carmen, Córdoba Province.

The Condor missile had a range of 800 km to 1,000 km1112 and a 1000CAP1 500 kg cluster munition warhead.

In 1997, the Argentine Air Force reported to the US Congress that it still possessed two of the missiles that were to be destroyed.1314

Condor III

There have been reports of a Condor III program. The Condor III would have an increased range to some 1,500 km (930 mi) with the same payload as the Condor II.1115

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "Condor 1". Astronautix.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2003. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
  2. "Alacran". Astronautix.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2003. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
  3. Joseph Cirincione; Jon B. Wolfsthal; Miriam Rajkumar (December 2011). Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats. Carnegie Endowment. pp. 388–. ISBN 978-0-87003-288-2.
  4. Joseph Cirincione; Jon B. Wolfsthal; Miriam Rajkumar (December 2011). Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats. Carnegie Endowment. pp. 388–. ISBN 978-0-87003-288-2.
  5. "Condor 2". Astronautix.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2003. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
  6. "Egypt's Missile Efforts Succeed with Help from North Korea". Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. 1996. Archived from the original on 2016-01-23.
  7. "Argentina | Country Profiles". NTI. Archived from the original on 2013-12-26. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
  8. "Badr-2000 - Iraq Special Weapons". Fas.org. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
  9. "Condor Missile Programme (Hansard, 5 March 1996)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 1996-03-05. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
  10. Cirincione, Joseph; Jon B. Wolfsthal; Miriam Rajkumar (2005). Deadly arsenals : nuclear, biological, and chemical threats (Second ed.). Washington, D.C. ISBN 978-0-87003-288-2. OCLC 823345765.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. "Egypt Missile Chronology" (PDF). Nti.org. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  12. Etel Solingen (9 February 2009). Nuclear Logics: Contrasting Paths in East Asia and the Middle East. Princeton University Press. pp. 230–. ISBN 978-1-4008-2802-9.
  13. Cirincione, Joseph; Jon B. Wolfsthal; Miriam Rajkumar (2005). Deadly arsenals : nuclear, biological, and chemical threats (Second ed.). Washington, D.C. ISBN 978-0-87003-288-2. OCLC 823345765.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. Robert E. Dundervill, Jr.; Peter F. Gerity; Anthony K. Hyder; Lawrence H. Luessen (9 March 2013). Defense Conversion Strategies. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 200–. ISBN 978-94-017-1213-2.
  15. "Misil Condor III y Cohete tronador II (y algunos mas)". Taringa.net. 3 September 2011. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
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