Condor (Argentine missile)


 * This article is about the Argentine/Middle Eastern Condor/Badr missile, for the US Navy's air-to-surface missile see AGM-53 Condor.

The Argentine Condor missile was a multinational space research program started in the 1970s. It involved significant contract work being performed by German company MBB (now a group within Daimler AG), but later developed into a ballistic missiles program.

Condor I
The original Condor had little military capability but helped build expertise later used for the Alacrán missile program. The Alacrán program developed a functional short-range ballistic missile.

Condor II
During and after the 1982 Falklands War (Guerra de las Malvinas) France (which supplied missiles) placed an arms embargo on Argentina, causing the Argentine Air Force, under the command of Ernesto Crespo, to develop its own medium-range missile in the Condor II program.

This program was undertaken in close collaboration with Egypt, and then Iraq (the Iraqi version was called BADR-2000), however it was discontinued in the early 1990s by President Carlos Menem because of political pressure from the United States. The missile was developed in Falda del Carmen, Córdoba Province. The designer and creator of the missile was MIT-trained engineer Miguel Vicente Guerrero.

In 1997, the Argentine Air Force reported to the US Congress that it still possessed 2 of the missiles that were to be destroyed.

Condor III
There have been reports of a Condor III program. The Condor III would have an increased range to some 1,500 km with the same payload as the Condor II.