Pak’s next missile could be the missing Chinese M-9

NEW DELHI, July 8: Pakistan's next missile test is likely to be that of a Chinese M-9 equivalent. Islamabad is reported to have been in poss...

NEW DELHI, July 8: Pakistan’s next missile test is likely to be that of a Chinese M-9 equivalent. Islamabad is reported to have been in possession of the M-9s since 1992, and is readying for a test of an updated version, according to authoritative sources.

Pakistan’s tortuous missile development programme, overseen by the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Cooperation (SUPARCO), has reached a standstill, with the domestic plans for a range of solid fuelled missiles making no headway since 1988. That was when Pakistan tested the Hatf-1, an unguided 80-km range missile, “more akin to an artillery rocket”, said a well-informed South Block official. But since then the development programme has run into difficulties with renaming and re-engineering the only available routes.

The rest of the missiles in the series, say informed sources, are simply renamed variants of Chinese and North Korean missiles. The Hatf-II designation has been given to the Chinese supplied M-11 missiles, when the Pakistani versionfailed. The performance characteristics are virtually identical, said the sources.

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With the Hatf-V name having gone to the recently tested North Korean Nodong-inspired liquid-fuelled Ghauri, the Hatf-III and Hatf-IV are the missing links in Pakistan’s missile programme. Islamabad is reported to have purchased 10 Nodong/Ghauri missiles, of which one was tested last April, said the sources. “It is the identity of the Hatf-III/IV that is of great importance to us here,” said a military scientist in New Delhi.

While the initial reports of the Chinese sale of M-11s came in 1991-92, the Janes Strategic Weapons Systems had reported in 1992 that China had also supplied M-9 missiles to Pakistan. “That was the year when their indigenous Hatf-II was removed from the Pakistan Day Parade, and it is virtually certain that the Hatf-II designation has been given to those M-11s,” said a South Block source. The Hatf-III — almost certainly the M-9, according to the sources — was first mentioned publicly by Pakistan inJuly 1997, “when a cold test was conducted by SUPARCO,” said the military source. The Hatf-III was mentioned as a two-stage solid fuelled missile with a 600-km range. The parameters are of the M-9 except that it has a miniaturised propulsion system to separate and realign the warhead. “We are looking at the two-stage Hatf-III’ as that separator for the M-9 warhead” said the source.