Non-Subscriber Extract
Pakistan starts production of Shaheen 1 missile
- Article Tools
| 3 October 2000 |
Umer Farooq JDW Correspondent
The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission's National Defence Complex (NDC) has begun serial production of its 'indigenously-built' solid-fuelled Shaheen 1 (Hatf 4) intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), according to local media reports quoting senior defence officials.
The Shaheen 1, with a declared range of 750km, has officially been flight tested only once, in April 1999. Pakistani defence officials also said the test of the road-mobile missile was successful.
The announcement comes amid an escalating war of words between India and Pakistan, both of whom have pledged to test fire their latest ballistic missiles "soon".
Dr APJ Abdul Kalaam, the architect of India's ballistic missile programme and Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister, said India was on the threshold of becoming an intercontinental ballistic missile power. "While making an IRBM of the [3,000km] Agni-2 class, all technologies and industrial complexes are available for an ICBM," Kalaam told the Hindustan Times on 17 September.
A leading Pakistani nuclear scientist, Dr Abdul Khan, said last week that Pakistan was in a position to "hit almost all the major Indian cities" and had a stockpile of missiles and atom bombs. These include the NDC-built Shaheen 2 (Hatf 7) IRBM with a claimed range of 2,500km and 1,000kg payload. "It is ready for testing," Khan said.
Khan's comments follow a statement by Indian Minister of Defence George Fernandes that the Agni 3 IRBM (with a reported range of 4,000km) would be test-fired "sooner than expected".
Pakistan did not react to India's latest flight test earlier this year of the Indian Air Force Prithvi (SS 250) short-range ballistic missile on 16 June. Pakistan flight-tested its 100km-range Hatf 1 in February 2000.
Pakistani officials said that it was a deliberate decision to break away from the traditional patterns of testing its missiles only in reaction to such tests by India in order to dispel the impression that Pakistan is competing in an arms race with India.