Through the unveiling of a brand new underground missile metropolis operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Khorramshahr-4 ballistic missile—additionally recognized by its operational title Kheibar—was introduced as a core part of the subterranean community.
In keeping with Iranian media stories, positioning the Khorramshahr-4 inside hardened underground infrastructure elevates the system from a publicly declared functionality to a completely deployable and resilient operational asset. Strategically, this implies the missile pressure is designed to face up to a primary strike and stay able to speedy retaliation, even underneath sustained army stress.
Khorramshahr-4 belongs to Iran’s heavy ballistic missile class, with an operational vary of roughly 2,000 kilometers and a high-mass warhead. Its excessive pace—reaching a number of occasions the pace of sound throughout varied flight phases—considerably reduces warning and interception home windows for missile protection techniques. The missile is designed to penetrate layered air and missile defenses by its flight profile, velocity, and up to date steerage techniques.
Second-Strike Functionality and Strategic Messaging
The mixing of Khorramshahr-4 into underground launch platforms conveys a transparent strategic sign: a dependable second-strike functionality exists. The timing of the revealing, amid overt and covert safety threats involving america and Israel, underscores that the missile is now an lively component of Iran’s defensive-offensive posture—one grounded within the doctrine of “lively deterrence.”
Analysts word that such army disclosures usually coincide with intervals of diplomatic engagement and political stress, functioning as leverage reasonably than escalation. The message is that negotiations should not carried out from a place of vulnerability, whereas the price of army adventurism is intentionally raised.
Technical Profile of Khorramshahr-4
First unveiled on June 25, 2023, Khorramshahr-4 measures roughly 13 meters in size, 1.5 meters in diameter, and weighs round 30 tons. It carries a warhead weighing roughly 1,500 kilograms—among the many heaviest in Iran’s missile stock—with the capability to ship over one ton of explosives.
The missile is powered by the superior Arvand engine, utilizing hypergolic liquid gasoline, permitting for quicker operational readiness and diminished launch preparation complexity. A key design innovation locations the engine contained in the gasoline tank, bettering structural stability, lowering total size, and enhancing ballistic efficiency and accuracy.
Pace, Flight Phases, and Diminished Response Time
Khorramshahr-4 reportedly reaches speeds of as much as Mach 16 exterior the environment and roughly Mach 8 inside it. With a complete flight time estimated at 10 to 12 minutes, the missile sharply limits the effectiveness of many defensive response techniques.
The missile operates throughout three flight phases: preliminary enhance and trajectory setting, a mid-course section the place the warhead separates and corrects flight disturbances, and a terminal section involving atmospheric reentry. Through the ultimate stage, auxiliary engines stabilize the warhead’s path by managed rotational movement, guaranteeing precision underneath excessive circumstances.
Maneuverable Warhead and Digital Warfare Resistance
The missile is provided with a maneuverable reentry car (MaRV) that includes eight auxiliary engines—4 for angle management and stabilization, and 4 for lateral course correction. This configuration enhances each accuracy and survivability towards missile defenses.
One in every of Khorramshahr-4’s defining options is mid-course steerage dominance. As soon as the warhead reenters the environment, digital steerage techniques are deactivated, successfully neutralizing the impression of digital warfare and lowering vulnerability to sign disruption.
Low Radar Signature and Excessive Accuracy
Design modifications, together with the removing of standard fins and reliance on thrust vector management, cut back the missile’s radar cross-section whereas bettering maneuverability. Iranian protection officers estimate the missile’s round error possible (CEP) at roughly 30 meters at most vary—a degree of precision that, mixed with its heavy warhead, ends in important harmful functionality.
Operational Readiness and Multipoint Impression
Gas longevity has been prolonged by adjustments in tank alloys and gasoline composition, enabling long-term storage and speedy deployment. The missile could be launched from cellular platforms, with preparation time reportedly diminished to underneath quarter-hour.
IRGC officers have beforehand acknowledged {that a} single Khorramshahr missile can generate a number of impression factors in a goal space, dramatically rising its battlefield impact. In mass deployment situations, this functionality would impose extreme pressure on defensive techniques.
Strategic Implications
The disclosing of Khorramshahr-4 inside an underground missile metropolis highlights a broader shift in regional army dynamics. As massive, high-cost platforms face rising challenges from precision, pace, and concealment, the stability continues to maneuver towards techniques designed for survivability, speedy response, and uneven deterrence.
On this context, Khorramshahr-4 is just not introduced merely as a weapon, however as a strategic assertion—one which displays Iran’s emphasis on deterrence by resilience, readiness, and escalation management.
MNA/6741671
