Missile development is mature tech vs ABM which is sunrise tech, which means after a certain period, new developments will start to match the rate with which missile tech improves. Sure it is more expensive, that's why only the bigger economies are pursuing it. In India Pakistan nuclear scenarios, ABM will be untested in actual combat, but the missiles and their nuclear payloads will also be untested in actual combat. I believe I had made this point in previous posts also.
The more salvos you have to employ, the less the locations you can target. If you use 50 missiles, and use 10 salvos per attack you can target only 5 locations. Whereas India can target 50 locations with same number of missiles.
The same point, if you use 10 missiles per location, and both countries have 50 missiles, you can only target 5 locations, whereas India can target 50 locations.
The point all you guys are missing.
The deterrence factor as explained in my previous posts in this thread. In layman's terms, India has a nuclear deterrent that Pakistan doesn't. You can argue the effectiveness of this deterrent till the end of time. I can say 90% effective, you can say 10% effective. But you're missing the point completely. Even a 10% effective deterrence of India is infinitely greater than a 0% effective deterrence of Pakistan. In the end neither will you launch a missile, neither will we employ ABM. The objective is to have strategic nuclear advantage.
And trust me, Pakistan's military establishment is very worried about India's ABM capabilities, both officially and unofficially. So is China.
And guys, I don't mind arguing but I feel I'm repeating points already explained in earlier posts in this thread, so please a small request, come up with new points, cause I don't want to argue only for arguments sake in endless circles. Thanks..