The Saeghe 1 (cutaway, front) and a Saeghe 2 (rear)
The Saegheh ("Lightning" or "Thunder" in Persian) (also spelled Saegre, Saeghe, Saeqeh, etc.) is any of at least eight completely separate Iranian weapons systems: a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) warhead, an anti-tank guided missile family, a surface-to-surface rocket, a target drone family, an air-to-air missile, a claimed stealth unmanned aerial vehicle, a fighter jet, and an anti-ship cruise missile.
History
The first system, the Saeghe 1, is an Iranian reverse-engineered clone of the American M47 Dragonwire-guidedSACLOSATGM, introduced in 2001.[1][2] It seems to have entered production in 2002.[3] Iran later introduced the Saeghe 2, a more advanced variant with a tandem-warhead to defeat explosive reactive armor,[4] and the Saeghe-4, with a thermobaric warhead.[5] The Saeghe-1 weights 6.1 kilograms (13 lb) and can penetrate armor up to 500 millimetres (20 in). The 7.4-kilogram (16 lb) Saeghe 2 missile has a tandem warhead and can penetrate up to 760 millimetres (30 in) of armor.[4] The Saeghe 1 and Saeghe 2 ATGMs have a range of 50 to 1,000 metres (160 to 3,280 ft).[4]
Despite being essentially obsolete, Saegheh anti-tank guided missiles have been exported to Syria, Hezbollah,[6] and Shia militias in Iraq. The Saeghe 1 and Saeghe 2 were in production and service as of 2011, though they were not widely deployed.[7] The Saeghe ATGM is extremely hard to aim and in Iranian service it appears to be limited to IRGC and rapid response forces.[8]
In 2006, Iran tested a completely unrelated short-range surface-to-surface missile[9] that is also named Saegheh. It has a range of 80 to 250 kilometres (50 to 155 mi).[9]
Other Saegheh name designations
Under the Saegheh name, Iran has also built a variant warhead for RPG-7 style rocket launchers. Iran also uses the Saeghe name for a target drone[10] (which comes in two variants: Saeghe 1 and Saeghe 2[11]) and an air-to-air missile.[12]
