page_title: Fajr-3
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Fajr-3 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: This image shows a North Korean-built M-1985 MLRS in service with Iranian soldiers during the Iran-Iraq war. The M-1985 would later be copied by Iran as the Fajr-3.
context_page_description: The Fajr-3 is an Iranian heavy 240 mm intermediate-range multiple-launch artillery rocket. The Fajr-3 is a license-built copy, with slight modifications, of a North Korean MLRS called the M-1985. The Fajr-3 was introduced in the 1990s and has since been exported to Hamas and Hezbollah.
  The Fajr-3 launcher fires twelve 5.2 meter long, 240 millimeter-calibre Fajr-3 artillery rockets, with a range of 43 kilometres, weighing 407 kilograms each and carrying 90-kilogram fragmentation warheads with 45 kg of high explosive. Fajr means 'dawn' in Arabic.
context_section_description: During the Iran–Iraq War, around 100 North Korean M-1985 MLRS systems were exported to Iran. The North Korean M-1985 was derived from Soviet Katyushas, and so the Fajr-3 is sometimes considered a Katyusha too. With North Korean assistance, Iran's state-run Shahid Bagheri Industries later began to produce the system under license.
  A minority of sources report that the Fajr-3 is built by Parchin Missile Industries.
  Dates for the production of the Fajr-3 are very unclear. Iranian Defense Minister Akbar Torkan announced in March 1990 that mass production of the Fajr-3 had started. Analysts in Abu Dhabi learned about the development less than a month later and described it as "one of the most important new weapons" entering production in Iran.
  However, it was not until November 6, 1996 that Iran announced that they had actually built a Fajr-3 system. The system was tested that same month and entered service that year. This discrepancy in start date may be the difference between first building a copy, and then an improved version of the system. The development program for the Fajr-3 might have been run in conjunction with the development of the Oghab.
  Early versions of the Fajr-3 apparently had reduced range and it was not until December 1998 that Iran tested a rocket with the full 43 km range. Fajr-3 rockets are known to have still been in production in 2006.
caption: The Fajr-3 is a copy of the North Korean M-1985 (seen here.)
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