[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 97 (Thursday, June 27, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S7204]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CONTINUING DEVELOPMENTS IN IRAN

 Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I wish to warn my colleagues of 
continuing developments in Iran which I believe to be very dangerous to 
the national interests of the United States.
  As many are aware, I have spoken before to express my concerns about 
the continuing threat which I believe the leadership of Iran offers to 
the Middle East. Today, I would like to focus again on Iran's 
procurement of missiles which threaten the free passage through the 
Persian Gulf of oil and other goods vital to the United States.
  Early this year Pentagon officials acknowledged that Iran had test-
fired a Chinese-built C-802 antiship cruise missile. The test firing of 
this missile occurred near the approaches of the Strait of Hormuz, the 
strategic waterway at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. The C-802 
antiship cruise missile can achieve speeds up to mach 0.9 and can be 
fired from over 50 miles from the target ship. It is powered by a 
turbojet with a rocket booster and attacks the target vessel at a 
height of only 15 feet above the ocean. The Pentagon said that five 
Chinese fast-attack craft are equipped to carry the missiles, with 
another five of the missile patrol boats expected to be delivered to 
Iran soon. Additionally, 10 Kaman-class fast attack boats are now being 
modified by Iran to carry the C-802. In response to this development, 
Senators Larry Pressler, Arlen Specter, Connie Mack, and I asked 
President Clinton to verify that China had sold this missile to Iran in 
violation of the Iran-Iraq Arms Non-Proliferation Act of 1992. I regret 
to say that the response of the administration was unsatisfactory.
  A less publicized acquisition of Iran has been the procurement of the 
SS-N-22 (SUNBURN) anti-ship cruise missile from a Former Soviet Union 
State. This missile is much more capable and dangerous than the Chinese 
C-802. The SUNBURN missile can travel at speeds up to mach 2.5, almost 
3 times as fast as the Chinese C-802 missile. It can perform ``S'' 
turns during flight and carries sophisticated electronic sensors. This 
missile, as I will discuss in more detail, poses a significant threat 
to our naval vessels and the free flow of oil in the Persian Gulf.
  Mr. President, let me talk briefly and in very general terms about 
the systems which our naval vessels use to defend themselves. At the 
outset, I should say that the Navy has begun to improve its ship self-
defense systems, as they are called, following the tragic incident in 
which the U.S.S. Stark was hit and badly damaged by an Iraqi-launched 
Exocet missile. The ship self-defense systems fall into two general 
categories. The first are sensors, missiles and guns which are designed 
to locate and shoot down the attacking missile. The idea is to hit a 
bullet with a bullet. I believe that there can be no disagreement that 
this is a difficult task. Because of the size of the Persian Gulf, 
ships are always relatively close to shore. When an antiship missile is 
fired from a land-based site as it could be in Iran, ground clutter can 
conceal the missile from ship or aircraft radar until it reaches open 
water, which reduces the reaction time of our ships and makes the 
interception much more difficult. With an anti-ship missile like the 
SUNBURN, traveling at mach 2.5, the time from its appearance over the 
horizon until it impacts on its target is only approximately 30 
seconds. Further, sophisticated missiles which engage in corkscrew and 
serpentine maneuvers as they enter their final phase make them very 
difficult to engage.

  The second general category of ship self-defense systems are decoys. 
Navy vessels are equipped to fire chaff into the air when their sensors 
detect an incoming anti-ship missile. The chaff can confuse the sensors 
carried by the less sophisticated anti-ship missiles. This is simply an 
improvement of the technology used by aircraft early in World War II. A 
much more promising technology is the NULKA Decoy System. It is an all-
weather self-protection missile that is especially designed to protect 
combatant amphibious ships operating in littoral waters against anti-
ship missiles. This decoy draws the anti-ship missile away from its 
target and shows great promise against the most sophisticated threats 
when integrated with the ship's sensors and weapons systems. I urge the 
Pentagon and my colleagues on the Defense committees to take the 
necessary measures to expedite fielding of this system as quickly as 
possible.
  Mr. President, I now ask what purpose the Government of Iran has for 
its actions? Its recent procurement of nuclear technology can be 
explained away, however lamely, with claims of non-military 
applications. An apologist could argue that Iran's procurement of 
submarines is defensive in its nature. However, there is no argument 
which can explain the procurement of anti-ship missiles of the type I 
have described. They are clearly for offensive purposes. They can only 
be used to attack ships in the Persian Gulf or threaten to do so. 
Imagine yourself as a sailor on one of our ships that has just detected 
the approach of such a missile. Thirty seconds is very little time to 
react in a meaningful way. I need not remind my colleagues that we 
fought in Iraq, in large part, to continue to guarantee free passage of 
oil from the Persian Gulf. If Iran cannot be persuaded to abandon its 
current course, I am afraid we may be forced to do so again.

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