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ref:Pakistan Tests 'Nuke-Capable' Short-Range Missile - Defense News
Pakistan Tests 'Nuke-Capable' Short-Range Missile
By USMAN ANSARI
Published: 20 Apr 2011 16:53 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday conducted the first official test firing of what it described as a short-range surface-to-surface multitube ballistic missile.
An Inter-Services Press Release statement said the Nasr (Victory) missile could be tipped with "nuclear warheads of appropriate yield with high accuracy," therefore confirming Pakistan's long-assumed tactical nuclear weapons program.
The statement also described it as a "quick response system [which] addresses the need to deter evolving threats."
Nasr is the ninth in the Pakistani Hatf (Vengeance) series of missile systems. Images, and film released by ISPR and Associated Press of Pakistan show it to be a two-round system carried on the Chinese-origin 8x8 high-mobility truck chassis used by the Army's AR1A/A100-E 300mm Multiple Launch Rocket System.
Haris Khan, of the Pakistan Military Consortium think tank, said Nasr answers India's Cold Start doctrine.
"Hatf-IX is a perfect answer to the Indian concept of Cold Start," Khan said. "It establishes that tactical nuclear weapons will be deployed very close to its border with minimum reaction time to counter any armor or mechanized thrust by an enemy into its Pakistani territory."
The Nasr test shows Pakistan can build small nuclear warheads for all kinds of delivery platforms, said Mansoor Ahmed, a lecturer at Quaid-e-Azam University here who specializes in nonconventional weapons and missiles.
"Theoretically, 1 kilogram of weapons-grade plutonium boosted with 4-5 grams of tritium gives a 10-20KT yield, provided the trigger is sophisticated," Ahmed said. "However, the diameter size of Nasr suggests that the warhead would be less than 1 kilogram, and would be of sub-kiloton range, suitable for battlefield use and could be a fission boosted sub-kiloton fission device."Pakistan will now "not accept any cap in plutonium production in the foreseeable future," he said.
Similar in concept to the Russian Iskander, the Nasr has a much shorter range: 60 kilometers, which Ahmed said could be extended.
ref:http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1709352.ece
Pakistan tests short-range ballistic missile
Anita Joshua
Share · Comment · print · T+ Pakistan on Tuesday claimed to have successfully conducted the first flight test of the newly developed short range surface-to-surface multi-tube ballistic missile ‘Hatf IX' (NASR).
Viewed by some strategic analysts as Pakistan's answer to India's Cold Start Doctrine, NASR has a range of 60 km and “shoot-and-scoot'' nuclear delivery capability.
The Inter-Services Public Relations said NASR's quick response system addressed need to deter evolving threats. Addressing a gathering at the undisclosed site of the test, Director-General of the Strategic Plans Division Khalid Ahmed Kidwai said the successful flight marked a milestone in consolidating Pakistan's strategic deterrence capability at all levels of the threat spectrum.
Lt. Gen (retd.) Kidwai pointed out that in the hierarchy of military operations, NASR provided Pakistan with short range missile capability in addition to the already available medium and long range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in its inventory.
Welcoming the test, security analyst Shireen Mazari said in a statement that Pakistan had now acquired tactical nuclear capability with a low yield that could be used in the battlefield. “It will act as a deterrent against use of mechanised conventional land forces. This was essential in the wake of India's adventurist war-fighting doctrine formulations, which envisaged the use of rapid deployment of armed brigades and divisions in surprise and rapid attacks.''
Referring to India's Cold Start Doctrine, Ms. Mazari said, “India has always felt that Pakistan had a loophole in terms of lacking short range battlefield nuclear weapons, which it could exploit on the assumption that it made little sense for Pakistan to respond to such conventional attacks with strategic nuclear weapons. With NASR, Pakistan has plugged that loophole. Indian dreams of a limited war against Pakistan through its Cold Start strategy have been laid to rest. This will allow for a reassertion of a stable nuclear deterrence in the region.''
Pakistan Tests 'Nuke-Capable' Short-Range Missile
By USMAN ANSARI
Published: 20 Apr 2011 16:53 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday conducted the first official test firing of what it described as a short-range surface-to-surface multitube ballistic missile.
An Inter-Services Press Release statement said the Nasr (Victory) missile could be tipped with "nuclear warheads of appropriate yield with high accuracy," therefore confirming Pakistan's long-assumed tactical nuclear weapons program.
The statement also described it as a "quick response system [which] addresses the need to deter evolving threats."
Nasr is the ninth in the Pakistani Hatf (Vengeance) series of missile systems. Images, and film released by ISPR and Associated Press of Pakistan show it to be a two-round system carried on the Chinese-origin 8x8 high-mobility truck chassis used by the Army's AR1A/A100-E 300mm Multiple Launch Rocket System.
Haris Khan, of the Pakistan Military Consortium think tank, said Nasr answers India's Cold Start doctrine.
"Hatf-IX is a perfect answer to the Indian concept of Cold Start," Khan said. "It establishes that tactical nuclear weapons will be deployed very close to its border with minimum reaction time to counter any armor or mechanized thrust by an enemy into its Pakistani territory."
The Nasr test shows Pakistan can build small nuclear warheads for all kinds of delivery platforms, said Mansoor Ahmed, a lecturer at Quaid-e-Azam University here who specializes in nonconventional weapons and missiles.
"Theoretically, 1 kilogram of weapons-grade plutonium boosted with 4-5 grams of tritium gives a 10-20KT yield, provided the trigger is sophisticated," Ahmed said. "However, the diameter size of Nasr suggests that the warhead would be less than 1 kilogram, and would be of sub-kiloton range, suitable for battlefield use and could be a fission boosted sub-kiloton fission device."Pakistan will now "not accept any cap in plutonium production in the foreseeable future," he said.
Similar in concept to the Russian Iskander, the Nasr has a much shorter range: 60 kilometers, which Ahmed said could be extended.
ref:http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1709352.ece
Pakistan tests short-range ballistic missile
Anita Joshua
Share · Comment · print · T+ Pakistan on Tuesday claimed to have successfully conducted the first flight test of the newly developed short range surface-to-surface multi-tube ballistic missile ‘Hatf IX' (NASR).
Viewed by some strategic analysts as Pakistan's answer to India's Cold Start Doctrine, NASR has a range of 60 km and “shoot-and-scoot'' nuclear delivery capability.
The Inter-Services Public Relations said NASR's quick response system addressed need to deter evolving threats. Addressing a gathering at the undisclosed site of the test, Director-General of the Strategic Plans Division Khalid Ahmed Kidwai said the successful flight marked a milestone in consolidating Pakistan's strategic deterrence capability at all levels of the threat spectrum.
Lt. Gen (retd.) Kidwai pointed out that in the hierarchy of military operations, NASR provided Pakistan with short range missile capability in addition to the already available medium and long range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in its inventory.
Welcoming the test, security analyst Shireen Mazari said in a statement that Pakistan had now acquired tactical nuclear capability with a low yield that could be used in the battlefield. “It will act as a deterrent against use of mechanised conventional land forces. This was essential in the wake of India's adventurist war-fighting doctrine formulations, which envisaged the use of rapid deployment of armed brigades and divisions in surprise and rapid attacks.''
Referring to India's Cold Start Doctrine, Ms. Mazari said, “India has always felt that Pakistan had a loophole in terms of lacking short range battlefield nuclear weapons, which it could exploit on the assumption that it made little sense for Pakistan to respond to such conventional attacks with strategic nuclear weapons. With NASR, Pakistan has plugged that loophole. Indian dreams of a limited war against Pakistan through its Cold Start strategy have been laid to rest. This will allow for a reassertion of a stable nuclear deterrence in the region.''