Al-Abid

Tammuz Project Bird Al-Abid SLV

Mission Profile

Al-Abid (also known as Tammuz or Project Bird) was Iraq's ambitious three-stage orbital launch vehicle program, representing Saddam Hussein's effort to develop an indigenous space launch capability and demonstrate long-range ballistic missile technology. Standing approximately 25 meters tall with a liftoff mass of 48,000 kg, it first flew in December 1989 in a partial test of its lower stages. The program relied on a first stage derived from five clustered Scud missiles and was developed with technical assistance from international sources during the Iran-Iraq War era. The Iraqi space program was terminated by the Gulf War in 1991 and subsequent UN weapons inspections, leaving Al-Abid as a stark example of how space launch technology intersects with ballistic missile proliferation concerns.