Al - Samoud 2 Al - Samoud ( الصمود , alternately " Al - Samed " , which means steadfastness in Arabic ) was a liquid - fuel tactical ballistic missile developed by Iraq in the years between the Gulf War and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq . The Iraqi army also developed a solid - propellant version known as Ababil - 100 . Development . The missile was essentially a scaled - down Scud , though parts were mostly derived from the Russian SA - 2 ' Guideline ' surface - to - air missile . The first test - firing was carried out as early as 1997 and was supervised by UNSCOM . The production started in 2001 , and the goal was the assembly of 10 missiles each month . The project was heavily dependent of technical assistance from Poland and Russia . The Al Samoud 2 was not fully operational by 2003 , but some of them had been already delivered to the Iraqi army . Engine . The rocket engine evolved from the SA - 2 design and the thrust vector controls from the Scud . The system also included an Iraqi - designed mobile launcher similar to the " Al - Nida " , built for the missile Al Hussein , produced by the Iraqi company Al - Fida . Payload . The missile carried a 280 kilogram warhead that was half high explosives and half protective steel shell . The explosive charge weighed 140 kg , made of a mixture of 84 kg of RDX = 60 % , 42 kg of TNT = 30 % and 14 kg of aluminium = 10 % , the latter used as a fuse . The payload was also designed to upload different types of bomblets . Guidance . The guidance package was assembled by cannibalizing gyroscopes from the Chinese Silkworm cruise missile . A source is cited as claiming that there were inertial and even GPS guidance systems illegally imported from Belarus , but these allegations have not been confirmed . Banned by the UN . On February 13 , 2003 , a UN panel reported that Iraq ' s Al - Samoud 2 missiles , disclosed by Iraq to weapons inspectors in December , have a range of 180 km , in breach of UNSCR 1441 . The limit allowed by the UN is 150 km . Iraq agreed to destroy the Al - Samoud 2 long range missiles , and as mid - March 2003 , a number had been destroyed . Although UNMOVIC ordered to stop its production , Iraq assembled some 20 missiles during the early months of 2003 . American forces found a cache of twelve Al Samoud missiles south of Baiji on July 21 , 2003 . Operational History ( March – April 2003 ) . A number of Al - Samoud 2 missiles were fired at Kuwait during the 2003 conflict . One of them , aimed at the Coalition Headquarters at " Camp Doha " , was successfully intercepted by a missile Patriot on March 27 . Some debris hit buildings inside the US base . The other missiles were also shot down or landed harmlessly in the desert . A similar development , the Al - Fahd or Ababil - 100 , a solid propellant version of the Al - Samoud , was also used by the Iraqi army during the invasion . The Headquarters of the 2nd Brigade , US 3rd Infantry Division , were struck by a missile of this kind on April 7 , while the Brigade ' s main force was conducting an incursion 15 km north , well inside Baghdad . Three soldiers and two foreign reporters were killed in the blast . Another 14 soldiers were injured , and 22 vehicles destroyed or seriously damaged , most of them Humvees .