Who is Buying What in Pakistan's neighbourhood?
China
China's first Type 094 Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile-carrying submarine (SSBN) is believed to have been commissioned early this year. Its construction process had been shrouded in mystery for more than a decade, even to the extent that the People's Liberation Army's Navy had cordoned off a restricted area extending several kilometres around the construction facilities on China's Hulu Island off Qingdao, strictly prohibiting outsiders from approaching or entering. The Type 094 SSBN's capabilities are more advanced than those of its predecessor, the Type 092 Xia-class. The former is armed with 16 nuclear warhead-tipped Julang 2 submarine-launched ballistic missiles that have a range of 8,000km.
The PLA Navy's first of two Type 051C Shenyang-class guided-missile destroyers (pennant no 115) was ready for sea trials by July 15. Built by the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corp's shipyard in Dalian, it has been designed to serve as an area air defence vessel.
According to the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the PLA Army's 2 nd Artillery Corps currently has 12 operational DF-31 road-mobile inter-continental range ballistic missiles (ICBM). These ICBMs are in addition to the 24 DF-5 liquid-fuelled, silo-based, five-megaton warhead-carrying ICBMs that were deployed by 2000 to cover targets on the US mainland. The DF-31 is a solid-fuel, three-stage missile with a range of 8,000km, and requires a launch preparation time of only 15 minutes. It is fitted with endo-atmospheric decoys, which would acutely limit the efficacy of any ballistic missile defence system. Furthermore, the mobile configuration and minimised launch time considerably increases its survivability against a hostile counter-force attack. The DF-31's payload ranges between 1.050-1.750kg, and can be loaded with a single megaton-yield warhead or up to five multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle (MIRV) with a selectable yield of 20, 90 or 150 kilotons. The DIA claims that the 2 nd Artillery Corps will equip roughly five rocket battalions with the DF-31 by 2008. The first such unit, 80304 battalion, has its HQ at Luoyang , in Henan province. Development of the DF-31 began in 1978 and the first, though unsuccessful, flight test was conducted on 29 April 1992 . The first successful test took place in 1995, and in October 1999 the DF-31 was publicly unveiled. Later, in November and December 2000, two live-fire tests were conducted. China is now developing the 12,000km-range DF-41 road-mobile ICBM.
India
The ministry of defence (MoD) inked Rs511.4 billion contract on July 17 with Rosoboronexport State Corp under which Russia's Kaliningrad-based Yantar Shipyard will build the follow-on three Project 1135.6 guided-missile frigates for the Indian Navy. The first vessel will be delivered within five years of contract signature, with the subsequent two frigates following within 12 months after the delivery of the first warship. Earlier, on July 6, the Cabinet Committee on National Security had approved the purchase of the three frigates, plus 28 submarine-launched Novator 3M14E subsonic land attack cruise missiles worth Rs8.44 billion for the navy's upgraded eight Type 877EKM Kilo-class submarines, and an additional Rs4 billion for procuring customer-furnished equipment for the frigates, such as the BrahMos multi-role supersonic cruise missiles and Barak-1 anti-cruise missile defence systems.
The so-called indigenous airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system being developed by the Defence Research & Development Organisation's (DRDO) Centre for Air Borne Systems (CABS) will fly by 2010, and its prototype is expected to be rolled out next year, said CABS Director K. Tamilmani on July 9.
