According to defense analyst Usman Shabbir, the main force behind advances in the missile program is the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) defense conglomerate and its subsidiary, the National Defence Complex (NDC).
"NESCOM has been quietly and steadily refining its missile designs with special emphasis on more precision and greater range and warhead capacity," he said. "Work on MIRV [multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle] warheads is ongoing and might be fielded in the near future on the Shaheen-II ballistic missile system.
"NESCOM is also working on new guided missile projects and in some cases helping other Pakistani research facilities with theirs. One such example was the recently tested air-launched cruise missile RAAD, developed by AWC [Air Weapons Complex] in collaboration with NESCOM," Shabbir said.