Ababeel is MIRVed from the word go. None of your AADs will be able to counter multiple warheads.
China provides tracking system for Pakistan’s missile programme
Tracking system could allow Islamabad to speed up development of missile that can target multiple cities or military sites
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 22 March, 2018, 2:00pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 22 March, 2018, 11:17pm
Zheng Mengwei, a researcher with the CAS Institute of Optics and Electronics in Chengdu, Sichuan province, confirmed to the
South China Morning Post that had bought a highly sophisticated, large-scale optical tracking and measurement system from China.
The Chinese-made system “at a firing range” for use in testing and developing its new missiles, he said.
Its efforts on developing multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs), a type of missile carrying several nuclear warheads that can be directed towards different targets.
Missile has a range of only 2,200km, it can deliver numerous warheads to different targets. The technology has the potential to overwhelm a missile defence system, wiping out an adversary’s nuclear arsenal in one surprise attack.
Beijing is supporting Islamabad’s missile development programme. But solid evidence can seldom be found in the public domain, making the CAS statement a rarity.
Chinese team during the nearly three months it spent in Pakistan assembling and calibrating the tracking system and training technical staff on how to use it, according to the statement.
“The system’s performance surpassed the user’s expectations,” it said, adding that it was considerably more complex than Pakistan’s home-made systems. It did not reveal how much Pakistan paid for the system.
An optical system is a critical component in missile testing. It usually comes with a pair of high-performance telescopes equipped with a laser ranger, high-speed camera, infrared detector and a centralised computer system that automatically captures and follows moving targets.
The device records high-resolution images of a missile’s departure from its launcher, stage separation, tail flame and, after the missile re-enters atmosphere, the trajectory of the warheads it releases.
The uniqueness of the Chinese-made system lay in its use of four telescope units, “more than normally required”, Zheng said.
Each telescope, with a detection range of several hundred kilometres, is positioned in a different location, with their timing synchronised precisely with atomic clocks. Together, the telescopes provide visual information of unprecedented detail and accuracy, which missile developers can use to improve designs and engine performance.
Using more telescopes allows the system to track more warheads simultaneously from different angles, reducing the risk of losing a target.
Zheng said he could not elaborate further on the technology nor where in Pakistan it was being used as it involved the country’s defence interests.
“We simply gave them a pair of eyes. They can use them to look at whatever they want to see, even the Moon,” he said.
High-quality optics are essential in missile development, especially MIRVs, said Rong Jili, deputy director at the Beijing Institute of Technology’s School of Aerospace Engineering.
Other types of tracking devices, such as radar, can collect more precise data at longer distances, but the Chinese-made optical system provided the intuitive, close-up look at real-life action that missile developers craved, he said.
Ababeel is fake MIRV.No independent sources have confirmed it.There is no superpower in the world with the miniaturization tech to MIRV IRBMs or SRBMs.MIRVs are only present in ICBMs.Even china has only started MIRV ing its ICBMs in last 10 yrs.So unless pakistan with no space programme and bankrupt economy has somehow surpassed Europe,USA,Russia,China in technology this is a fake for domestic consumption.
Its the Chinese who are working on MIRV and according to some reports Chinese MIRV can carry 4 warheads but still very long way for the Chinese to master that technology. CAS Institute of Optics and Electronics in Chengdu, Sichuan province.