Operational Status
The `Scud A' entered service around 1955 and was replaced by the SS-1C `Scud B' missile starting in 1962. By 1965, `Scud B' was operational in many countries throughout Europe and the Middle East. `Scud B' missiles were used by Egypt in 1973 against Israel, but only a small number were fired. A large number, in excess of 600, `Scud' and `Scud variants' were fired by both Iraq and Iran during their eight years war, and over 2,000 are believed to have been used in Afghanistan. A small number of `Scud' missiles were used in the civil war in Yemen in 1994.
There are unconfirmed reports that several `Scud C' missiles were fired in Afghanistan in 1989 to 1990. More than 700 `Scud' launchers were deployed by the former Warsaw Pact nations, each launcher carried one missile and had three reloads available. However, since the changes within Eastern Europe it is now unclear what has happened to all these weapons but it is believed that the SS-1 `Scud' missiles have been withdrawn from service in Russia and destroyed in Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. `Scud B' missiles have been exported to Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Egypt, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Libya, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Syria, UAE, Ukraine, Vietnam and Yemen. Unconfirmed reports in 1995 and 1996 have suggested that `Scud B' missiles may have been purchased by Armenia, Ecuador, Pakistan, Peru and Democratic Republic of the Congo; but these might have been built in the former Soviet Union or elsewhere.
