German Technology Helping Libya Build Ballistic Missile, Tv Claims

German technology and technicians are helping Libya build a ballistic missile that could hit Israel, according to “Report,” a program broadcast Tuesday evening on West German state television.

The missile is derived from an Argentine model called Condor II, developed and built by a major West German weapons company.

According to “Report,” an unspecified number of German technicians are employed on the Libyan missile project, code-named Alpha-8. The project is under way at three locations in Libya, the broadcast said.

The information comes on the heels of further reports that West German firms have been involved in supplying Libya with technology to build and maintain chemical weapons plants. Most recently, two companies were implicated in the transfer of a computer system for a new underground chemical weapons plant at Sabha, in southeast Libya.

A West German businessman is being tried for having supplied Libya with the technology for construction of a chemical weapons plant at Rabta, near the capital, Tripoli, in the North.

The German government claimed it was instrumental in preventing German firms from helping Libya build a second poison gas factory.

The factory manufacturing the ballistic missile is also located near Tripoli. There is a development center at Misratah, about 37 miles east of Tripoli, and a launching pad is being built in the Karjat desert.

The original Condor missile was developed in cooperation with the Munich-based arms manufacturer Messerschmidt-Bolkow-Blohm, which was acquired last fall by Daimler-Benz, manufacturer of the luxury Mercedes Benz and one of the world’s largest producers of military hardware.