More and more credit is being given to Pakistans conventional and nuclear, missile capability.
With the start of an improving economy and investment in IT and the help of overseas Pakistani professionals, Pakistan Inshallah will go from strength to strength
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MISSILE DEFENSE BRIEFING REPORT NO. 65, August 6, 2002
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC
Editor: Ilan Berman
A SHIFTING BALANCE OF POWER IN SOUTH ASIA…
Despite official optimism, India’s ballistic missile program is facing serious difficulties, writes Pravin Sawhney in the July 30th Pioneer. After a strong initial start in the 1980s, New Delhi’s Integrated Guided Missiles Development Program, or IGMDP, is now suffering from several critical shortcomings, the paper reports. Among them is the unwieldiness of the “Prithvi” short-range missile, which still relies on liquid, rather than solid, propellant, and is incapable of penetrating hardened targets because of its low terminal velocity. New Delhi’s “Agni” class of advanced rockets, meanwhile, is struggling with deficiencies in command and control, and has not yet been optimally integrated into the country’s national security structure.
Pakistan, on the other hand, is well on its way to fielding one of the world’s most advanced ballistic missile systems. The Rawalpalindi Jang (August 1) reports that after months of development by Islamabad’s National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM), the “Shaheen” medium-range missile will soon be tested by the Pakistani armed forces. According to sources cited by the paper, once the 750-kilometer range rocket is operational, it will be capable of defeating prospective Indian missile defenses, such as the Arrow Theater Missile Defense system New Delhi is in the process of acquiring from Israel.
http://www.afpc.org/mdbr/mdbr65.htm
[This message has been edited by PJ (edited August 11, 2002).]