also see http://rogueadventurer.com/2013/08/31/update-alleged-cw-munitions-in-syria/
Foreign Policy Magazine · 251,555 like this
August 28 at 2:27pm near Washington, DC · 
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2013/09/18/227651syria-whodunit/
September 18th, 2013 | Posted by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Syria: Whodunit?
According to the UN report two types of rockets had been used, including an M14 artillery rocket bearing Cyrillic markings and a 330-millimeter rocket of unidentified origin – though perhaps not so unidentified. Shortly after the August incident, Foreign Policy published and made mention of these mysterious rockets which according to former UN inspectors bore a strong resemblance to a 1970’s American weapon—the SLUFAE . Although SLUFAE had been shelved, the concept was built upon by several countries—namely Israel. According to the former UN inspector, “a very similar munition was found 3-5 years ago, during one of the Israeli excursions,” into Southern Lebanon”. Further, there is the strong possibility that the rockets with Cyrillic markings (attributed to the Soviets) can be traced back to the “Bear Spares” program.
According to the 1995 Teicher Affidavit, the United States had a “Bear Spares” program with the objective to provide ammunition for Soviet or Soviet-style weaponry and deliver them third countries without direct involvement. Israel which had a large stockpile of Soviet weaponry and ammunition captured during its wars was active in this program and, according to Teicher, transferred the spare parts and weapons to third countries or insurgents (such as to Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war, to the Afghans, and the Contras).
http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/28/were_syria_s_nerve_gas_rockets_based_on_an_american_design
SLUFAE
The XM130 rocket fired by SLUFAE consists of a barrel-shaped fuel-air explosive warhead, propelled by a 5-inch Zuni rocket motor (~127mm) and is stabilized by a circular tailfin. These munitions are 345 mm wide, 2.38 m long, and weighed 45 kg. At a set altitude after launch, a proximity fuse airbursts the warhead, dispersing a highly volatile vapor, which immediately combusts on contact with air. The resulting explosion creates a massive, crushing overpressure, which is sufficient to detonate many types of landmines. An XM130 with an inert warhead for training purposes was also developed.
The XM130 was also highly effective as an artillery weapon, due to the speed, range and trajectory of it’s rockets. However, having been conceived for Combat Engineering purposes, it’s range is extremely short (only about 150 m, requiring the SLUFAE launch vehicle to venture perilously close to it’s target
For weeks now, photos have been showing up online showing a mysterious rocket found at the scene of alleged chemical attacks in Syria. While no one knows for sure, one former chemical weapons inspector says the weapons found in Syria appear to based a particularly brutal American design from the Cold War.
Ordinarily, this might be a mere curiosity for weapons geeks. But these rockets have now became a cornerstone of the West's case that the Syrian military was behind the nerve gas massacre of more than a thousands people in the Damascus suburbs last week. U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice tweeted earlier in the week that only the Assad regime "has capacity to launch CW [chemical weapons] with rockets." An American intelligence official told Foreign Policy on Tuesday that the rockets found at the scene of the attack on the East Ghouta region were a strong indicator that the strike involved chemical weapons. The rockets were largely intact -- rather than completely destroyed, as they would be if they been carrying high-explosive warheads.
"Why is there so much rocket left? There shouldn't be so much rocket left" if it were a conventional weapon, the official said.
The video above shows what looks like the rockets found at the sites of chemcial attacks being loaded and fired by men wearing red-beret topped camoflage uniforms consistent with the Sryian Republican Guard and military police, according to the Brown Moses Blog, a running catalogue of the weapons used in the Syrian conflict. The video purports to show the rockets being fired from the Daraya district of Damascus to the northeast of the Al-Mezzeh military airfield. While last week's chemical attacks occured at night and this video is clearly shot during the daytime, Daraya sits very close to Muadhamiya, one of the Damascus suburbs affected by last week's chemcial attack. (The weapons shown in the video could be a conventional version of the suspected chemical munitions.)
These mystery rockets have been documented for weeks by Brown Moses, who first pointed out that their uniform design and assembly made it unlikely they were homemade weapons built by the Syrian rebels. That they had to be from the arsenal of the Syrian military
...
SLUFAEs were 5 inch-wide, Zuni rockets with a 13.5 inch-wide, 100-pound, barrel-shaped warhead filled with explosive gas mounted on the front. The whole contraption was about 8-feet long. As you can see by the image above, the rear end of SLUFAE bears an uncanny resemblance to the weapons found in Syria. The front-ends of of the mystery rockets also appear to have been large, barrel-shaped warheads that were destroyed or disfigured upon detonation and impact with the ground.
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