Iran Military Forum

Practically its already tested, because most probably the Simorgh will be very similar of the North Korean Unha 2.

I agree with Aspahbod,
I think Iran and N.K. follows independent space program. Maybe they share some technologies but I think total of projects are independent.
You see N.K. hasn't could to put any satellite into orbit till now despite their first launch was 10 years before Iranians.
As I know Unha-2 hasn't any successful launch till now.

Catsoo,
The Simorgh first stage is powered by four Nodong/Shahab-3 engines, which were designed by Isayev (Russian) in the 1950s. They are twice as powerful as the Scud (Isayev S5.) engine.  Each Shahab-3 engine produces 28.3 tons of thrust at sea level, and 31.6 tons in vacuum; I can provide more details if necessary, as I the engineers in Russia familiar with thee engine's origins and technical parameters. And while Iran's engineers are very capable, they do not have the technical wherewithal to enhance this engine to generate the thrust values quoted by officials.  If they had such capabilities, they would have also designed one large turbopump to feed the four engines; in the mock up unveiled in February 2010, each engine was supplied with its own pump.

Having said this, it will be quite a feat if the Simorgh is launched successfully.

So, we see another unreliable announced news . It is this sort of reporting that not only plays in the hands of Iran's enemies but also imbeds uncertainty and lack of trust among Iranians.
Fajr will not be launched "by Feb. 11" rather next Persian year!
Catsoo

In this case, the announcements were by officials.


Catsoo

The Simorgh first stage is powered by four Nodong/Shahab-3 engines, which were designed by Isayev (Russian) in the 1950s. They are twice as powerful as the Scud (Isayev S5.) engine.  Each Shahab-3 engine produces 28.3 tons of thrust at sea level, and 31.6 tons in vacuum; I can provide more details if necessary, as I the engineers in Russia familiar with thee engine's origins and technical parameters. And while Iran's engineers are very capable, they do not have the technical wherewithal to enhance this engine to generate the thrust values quoted by officials.  If they had such capabilities, they would have also designed one large turbopump to feed the four engines; in the mock up unveiled in February 2010, each engine was supplied with its own pump.

Having said this, it will be quite a feat if the Simorgh is launched successfully.

Of most interest will be the make-up of the second stage.  Will it be similar to that used  on Safir, powered by the steering engines from the Russian R-27 (or other Makayev design bureau missile), or will it use an R-27 itself, as North Korea did with the Unha-2?  If the latter, Iran will have a powerful satellite launcher, and a possible basis for a long-range missile with the capacity to target all of Europe if developed and fielded as a ballistic missile.  The latter would also confirm the Wikileaked diplomatic cable that quoted American officials telling their Russia counterparts that Iran had received the "BM-25" which is based on the R-27, and was seen in a North Korean parade in October 2010.  US officials call the North Korean version of the missile, "Musudan".

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/slbm/jl-1.htm

JL-1 [CSS-N-3]
The JL-1 [CSS-N-3] is a two-stage solid-propellant submarine-launched ballistic missile deployed on the Type-092 Xia class submarines. The Ju Lang-1 [or "Giant Wave-1"] missile is a sea-based variant of the land-based ground-mobile DF-21. JL-1 is ejected from a submerged submarine with the first-stage engine igniting after the missile has emerged from the water. The first successful test of the 1.4m-diameter solid-rocket engine for the JL-1 came in early 1978. The first test launch of the two stage CSS-NX-3 missile took place on 30 April, 1982 from submerged pontoon near Huludao (Yellow Sea). The first successful launch of the JL-1 was achieved on 12 October 1982, from a Golf Class trials submarine, marking a major milestone in a development program that had been initiated in March 1967. The second was launched on 12 October 1982 . The first firing from Xia was in 1985 and was unsuccessful and it was not until 27 September 1988 that a satisfactory launch took place. Although the missile put to sea as early as 1983, it did not become fully operational until the successful test firing from submerged Xia in September 1988.

It is therefore reasonable to expect Iran to develop new capabilities along a similar time frame. 

I don't agree with this. I think Iran would be able to do it much much faster than people expect. This is not just me being optimistic, but i'm taking into account the geniuses that spring up in Iran due to the genetic diversity present, the pressure Iran is under and the fact that the times have changed tremendously. Comparing 1990 to 2001 is night and day, let alone 1990 compared to 2012.