Pakistan’s Nuclear program is based on minumum deterrence, and self preseservation. Pakistan lives in a tough neighborhood with a belligerent bully bent upon hegemony, conquest and assimilation. The missiles provide basic survival for the Pakistani state. The Pakistani program is cloaked in secrecy and no one discusses the pakistani doctrine. It is pedagogical to understand what the Koreans have published.
- Pakistan’s robust Nuclear & Missile prowess growing fast–US scientists
- Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is expanding faster than any other nation’s.
- Why the US can never attack North Korea
Pakistan has first strike capability covering the entire South Asian Subcontinent . It also has 2nd strike capability with missiles that can reach deep into Indian territory. The 250 Nuclear and Hydrogen bombs keep the enemies at bay.
Pakistan has reportedly addressed issues of survivability through second strike capability, possible hard and deeply buried storage and launch facilities, road-mobile missiles, air defenses around strategic sites and concealment measures,” the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its report on Pak nuclear weapons dating May 15. CRS is the research wing of US Congress, which prepares reports on issues of interest of the US lawmakers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIUmAI6ag4U&feature=player_embedded
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIUmAI6ag4U&feature=player_embedded]
More than 50,000 scientists and engineers work on the Pakistani Nuclear program. 50,000 soldiers protect the program with concentric levels of security-best known to man. It is one of the most sophisticated projects in the history of the world and has been completed by a country in record time. The India-specific program calls for targeting major targets in India, to prevent is from occupying Pakistani territory or from crossing the sacrosanct Pakistani border. Not only does Pakistan have a first strike capability, Pakistan also has a second strike capability. Pakistan’s bombs are secure in hardened silos which would survive a nuclear attack from India.
WASHINGTON: Pakistan has addressed issues of survivability in a possible nuclear conflict through second strike capability, says a US congressional report. The first part of the report, published on Friday, deals with Islamabad’s efforts to develop new weapons, while the second part studies its strategy for surviving a nuclear war. According to the report, Pakistan has built hard and deeply buried storage and launch facilities to retain a second strike capability in a nuclear war. It also has built road-mobile missiles, air defences around strategic sites, and concealment measures. US. Congressional Research Service Report. May 29, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBmmCazGDGI&feature=player_embedded
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBmmCazGDGI&feature=player_embedded]
The Pakistan Nuclear program has prevented Bharat (aka India) from aggressive adventurism in 2002 and 2008. The program is India specific and Pakistan has had the nuclear bombs for more than two decades without incident or accident. More than 50,000 soldiers protect the program in concentric circles of security.
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit reiterated Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s recent assertion that “no amount of coercion, direct or indirect, will ever force Pakistan to compromise on its core security interest”.
“We are opposed to nuclear or conventional arms race in South Asia. At the same time, however, Pakistan cannot remain oblivious to increasing conventional asymmetries, unrelenting arms acquisitions as well as preferential treatment being accorded to certain countries in the region,” he said. “Such developments disturb the strategic balance and Pakistan is constrained to adopt necessary safeguards as it deems fit.” The Hindu. May 22nd, 2009.
The Pakistani missile program is a program of survival, self-preservation, dreams, defense and direct competition with India. In many ways, the program is ahead of its much larger neighbor’s program. Its deterrent value was proven, even in its early stages of development when it kept more than 250,000 soldiers on the Pakistani borders at bay in 2002. It also prevented Bharat from attacking Pakistan in the 90s when Zia Ul Haq was president.
President John F. Kennedy was once asked the difference between the Atlas space launch vehicle that put John Glenn into orbit and an Atlas missile aimed at the Soviet Union. He answered with a one-word pun: “Attitude.” The established path to a space launch capability for China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States was to adapt a ballistic missile as a space launch vehicle.
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“The way forward lies in conflict resolution and a peace process. We need to resolve the longstanding Jammu and Kashmir dispute. It is also important that our two countries adhere to the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960,” The Hindu. May 22nd, 2009.
Much to the chagrin of its enemies, Pakistan has expedited its nuclear program. The ISIS makes it look its breaking news. It is now reporting that Pakistan has a Plutonium program. The ISIS analysts may have been living in a cave, because Islamabad has always had a Plutonium program. Obviously the program is ongoing and and will surely add to the number of bombs that it possesses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcvROQRb4ic&feature=player_embedded
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcvROQRb4ic&feature=player_embedded]
A US arms control institute has warned that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programs could threaten the region. “Pakistan is indeed progressing in a strategic plan to improve the destructiveness and deliverability of its nuclear arsenal,” the Institute for Science and International Security said.
The institute released satellite photos on Tuesday that showed the expansion of a chemical plant complex near Dera Ghazi Khan. The plant produces uranium hexalfuoride and uranium metal, materials used to produce nuclear weapons, the ISIS report said.
Photos also suggested the Pakistanis “have added a second plutonium separation plant adjacent to the old one” at a site near Rawalpindi, according to the report. The expansion would enable Pakistan to build smaller, lighter plutonium-fission weapons and thermonuclear weapons that employ “plutonium as the nuclear trigger and enriched and natural enriched uranium in the secondary,” it said.
The ISIS report stated that the nuclear progress “complicates efforts to improve the security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets.” In response, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that its nuclear programs were not “static”.
“Our nuclear deterrence is an indispensable factor of stability in the region,” the Foreign Ministry statement asserted. Press TV
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Pakistan’s Nuclear doctrine is based on something like what the North Koreans have perfected over the years. Of course the North Korean offensive defense is against the USA, the Pakistani doctrine deals with an India specific threat.
Kim Myong Chol is author of a number of books and papers in Korean, Japanese and English on North Korea, including Kim Jong-il’s Strategy for Reunification. He has a PhD from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Academy of Social Sciences and is often called an “unofficial” spokesman of Kim Jong-il and North Korea. Nuclear war is Kim Jong-il’s game plan By Kim Myong Chol
Kim Choi in various articles, one published in the Asia Times has outlined North Korean plans to deal with America, and Japan. Apparently his writings have been studied all over the world, and the Pakistan Army is no exception. The following scenario is based on what what Choi wrote.
Four types of hydrogen bomb raids can do the job. The game plan for nuclear war specifies four types of thermonuclear assault:
- The bombing of operating nuclear power stations;
- Detonations of a hydrogen bombs in seas off Mumbai and other ports
- Detonations of H-bombs in space far above their heartlands; and
- Thermonuclear attacks on the major urban centers like Delhi and Kolkota.
The first attack involves converting operating nuclear power plants on the coastline into makeshift multi-megaton H-bombs.
If bombed, one average operating nuclear power station is estimated to spew out as much deadly fallout as 150-180 H-bombs. Bombing one Indian nuclear power station would render most of Bharat uninhabitable.
Nothing is easier than bombing a power plant on a coastline. There is no need to use a ballistic missile. Primitive means will do the job.
North Korea has planned this to the tee. According to North Korean experts “The US has 103 operating nuclear power stations with onsite storage of a huge quantity of spent fuel rods and Japan has 53 operating atomic power stations. Japan has a stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium – enough to assemble more than 1,000 atomic bombs in a short period of time. South Korea has 20 operating nuclear power stations with onsite storage of a huge quantity of spent fuel rods.”
The detonation of sea-borne or undersea H-bombs planted on the three countries’ continental shelves will trigger nuclear tsunamis with devastating consequences.
A 2006 RAND study of a ship-based 10-kiloton nuclear blast on the Port of Long Beach had some harrowing conclusions:
“Within the first 72 hours, the attack would devastate a vast portion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Because ground-burst explosions generate particularly large amounts of highly radioactive debris, fallout from the blast would cause much of the destruction. In some of the most dramatic possible outcomes:
Sixty thousand people might die instantly from the blast itself or quickly thereafter from radiation poisoning.
One hundred and fifty thousand more might be exposed to hazardous levels of radioactive water and sediment from the port, requiring emergency medical treatment.
The blast and subsequent fires might completely destroy the entire infrastructure and all ships in the Port of Long Beach and the adjoining Port of Los Angeles.
Six million people might try to evacuate the Los Angeles region.
Two to three million people might need relocation because fallout will have contaminated a 500-square-kilometer area.
Gasoline supplies might run critically short across the entire region because of the loss of Long Beach’s refineries – responsible for one-third of the gas west of the Rocky Mountains.
RAND projects that the economic costs would exceed $1 trillion.
The third possible attack, a high-altitude detonation of hydrogen bombs that would create a powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP), would disrupt the communications and electrical infrastructure of the US, the whole of Japan, and South Korea.
Many of the essential systems needed to survive war would be knocked out, as computers are instantly rendered malfunctioning or unusable. Military and communications systems such as radars, antennas, and missiles, government offices, would be put out of use, as would energy sources such as nuclear power stations and transport and communications systems including airports, airplanes, railways, cars and cell phones.
Ironically the ubiquity of high-tech computing gadgets in the US, Japan and South Korea has made them most vulnerable to EMP attacks.
The last and fourth attack would be to order into action a global nuclear strike force of dozens of MIRVed ICBMs – each bearing a thermonuclear warhead on a prefixed target.
The Yongbyon nuclear site has always been a decoy to attract American attention and bring it into negotiations on a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War. Since as far back as the mid-1980, North Korea has assembled 100-300 nuclear warheads in an ultra-clandestine nuclear weapons program. The missiles can be mounted on medium-range missiles designed to be nuclear capable.
A prototype ICBM was assembled by the end of the 1980s. Two prototype ICBMs were test-fired on May 29, 1993, with one splashing down off Honolulu and the other off Guam. The Kim Jong-il administration gave an advance notice to the US government of the long-range missile test. But the American reaction was skeptical.
The Short range Hataf series goes from Hataf 1 through Hataf 8 and includes air launched cruise missiles
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Nuclear-Capable Missiles in Pakistan
Originally posted Feb 2008. Updated May 8, 2008. To be periodically updated
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The progression of the missiles began with Hataf 1

From humble beginning of the Hataf 1 to Hataf 6 and beyond
Missile development and production in the world is truly a global enterprise. The first “rockets” on the planet were Chinese. The 1st tribal war in Europe also known as WW1 saw the introduction of bombs and rocket many laced with deadly chemical weapons. The death toll was over 15 million people killed. The 2nd tribal war in Europe was more devastating with over 50 million killed. German V-2 rockets rained down on London and destroyed most of it.
After the end of the war, the German scientists who were more comfortable with America rushed to the American sectors and those German scientists who were more comfortable with the Russian or those who were trapped in the Russian sectors ended up in the USSR. The first American and USSR missiles after the war looked exactly like the German missiles. Some were simply painted over. Von Braun was the main scientist sequestered in Mobile Alabama who built the American missile and space program. The Apollo program was based on Von Brauns technology.
Chinese missile production capability is based on Russian and German technology also. North Korean technology is also based on German and Rusian technology. Indian technology is based on Russian missiles.
Cloaked in absolute secrecy, missile development in Pakistan began in the ’80s. To diversify its technological base, Pakistan uses domestic competition between its local vedors to come up with the best product. Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pakistan has invested in both solid-motor and liquid-engine ballistic missile programs.
“Pakistan’s reasons for investing in both solid- and liquid-propulsion technologies remain unclear. However, analysts speculate the rival programs could be the result of intra-institutional rivalry and one-upmanship between the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), which have historically feuded over control and credits for Pakistan nuclear weapons-related efforts. This rivalry may have also carried over to the development of nuclear delivery systems. Furthermore, the diversification effort could also be viewed as a proactive attempt on the part of Pakistan’s military to factor in possible bottlenecks or failure along one technological front, as well as an attempt to diversify suppliers in the face of U.S. efforts to restrict the international trade in weapons of mass destruction-capable ballistic and cruise missile technologies. “Source: NTI
Pakistan began banking on missiles because of the US ambargo on planes. “till the fleet of 500 JF-Thunder aircraft are ready, Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent will be the missle nuclear defense. Pakistan formally kicked off its medium-range missile programme in April 1998, with the first successful test flight of Ghauri I missile followed by similar tests the next years involving the nuclear capable Ghauri, Shaheen, Ghaznavi and Abdali missile systems.
Self preservation, existential threats, resistance to hegemony, and the strategic competition with rival India has spurred Pakistani efforts to acquire indiginously produced ballistic missiles . Pakistan’s missile industry includes a large solid rocket motor production complex and a ballistic missile test facility. Pakistan has gone a lot of pians to unsure tha that missiles are considered India-specific. All of Indian territory can now been targeted. Most analysts believe that Pakistni missile capability is more advanced than previously known or advertized.
Assessing Pakistan’s missile program is extremely difficult becuase of the dearth of information and the variety of sources which may come from biased sources. Tracking missile development in Pakistan is all the more difficult becuase, for obvious reasons of sanity and security, Pakistani government agencies deliberately resort to using a plethora of nomenclatures to describe one or another missile program. Indian analysts reduce the efforts of the Pakistani by labeling the missiles as imports. Pakistani misslies like the Indian missiles is based on Russian and Chinese technology. It also got cooperation from North Korea. HATF-3 (Ghaznavi), HATF-5 (Ghauri), HATF-4 (Shaheen-1) have already been handed over to Pakistan Army’s Strategic Force Command.
Like India, Pakistan does not keep its ballistic missile force on operational alert. During peacetime, the missile force and nuclear warheads are stored separately; the warheads themselves are believed to be stored in a disassembled form for security reasons. Plans exist to assemble nuclear warheads during a crisis or emergency, and arm the missiles with warheads at a subsequent stage. Integrated teams of military personnel and nuclear scientists/engineers probably undertake such a task, ensuring organizational checks and balances, as well as ensuring that no rogue commander or scientist could act independently of the national command authority. However, the precise make-up of such teams, as well as the operational procedures for warhead assembly, dispersal, arming of the missile force during a crisis, and delegation of authority for use during a conflict, remain tightly held secrets. Source; NTI
The Swiss defense is based on taking advantage of their topography. Pakistani missles are kept deep inside mountain caves that can withstand nuclear attacks and prevent roving satellites and drones from discovering their actual locations.
Pakistan’s missile program is important for two reasons. First, Pakistan is a nuclear weapon state. Missiles give Pakistan the means to deliver its nuclear warheads farther and with more certainty than it could with aircraft. Second, the May nuclear weapons tests of both Pakistan and India illustrate the high tensions and spiraling arms race in South Asia. Ballistic missiles, which shorten warning times, increase the chances of accidental or preemptive nuclear conflict. According to Samar Mobarik Mand, a scientist at Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Pakistan also has a 435 mile nuclear-capable missile ready for a test-launch, the Shaheen-I.
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Known and publicized Pakistan’s missile efforts consists of three components:
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SHORT RANGE MISSILES: The short range Hatf-1 and Hatf-2, of Pakistani design and construction, were developed by the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO).M-11Since 1992, Pakistan has been constructing maintenance facilities, launchers and storage sheds for the missiles. The missile has a range of more than 300 km and a payload of 500 kg. It is a two-stage, solid-propelled missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The missile was reportedly test-fired in July 1997.
- Hatf-1, Est. Range: 80 km, Est. Payload: 500 kg, Est. Launch Weight: 1500 kg, Propulsion: Single-stage, Solid propellant, Comments: Mobile platform. Status: flight-tested.
- Even though the Hatf-1, -1A, and Hataf-2 were declared operational in the early 1990s, and the Pakistan Army tested the Hatf-1A in February 2000. Western observers feel that both Hataf 1 and Hataf 2 programs are likely to have been discontinued. Pakistani analysts find the Hataf 1 and 2 of a lot of value because of he proximity of any enemy movement. The older versions of the Hataf did not have a robust navigational system, but this functionality has been upgraded.
SHAHEEN MEDIUM RANGE: The Shaheen series of solid-propellant missiles were developed by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), which is also responsible for Pakistan’s plutonium bomb program. They have been compared to the Chinese M-11 missiles. The locally produced longer range Shaheen-I and Shaheen-II appear are comparable to the Chinese M-9 or DF-15 missiles.
Hatf-3, (Tarmuk) (Comparable to Chinese M-11)Est. Range: 300 km, Est. Payload: 500 kg, Est. Launch Weight: N/A
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Propulsion: Two-stage, Solid propellant
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Comments: Mobile platform. Status: flight-tested.
Hatf IV. The DF-15/M-9 (NATO designation CSS-6) is a single-stage, solid-propellant, road mobile, short-range ballistic missile. It can reportedly deliver a 500kg warhead over a range of 600km; other reports suggest that with a smaller warhead, the missile could have a range of 800km. Pakistani government statements suggest that the missiles in Pakistan’s possession have a maximum range of 700-800km. Like the M-11 missiles, control during boost phase is exercised through “exhaust vanes or small scale vernier motors.” The M-9 has a reported 300m circular error probability (CEP) and is believed to employ some form of terminal guidance. Analysts suggest that the missile has a “strapdown inertial guidance system with an onboard digital computer,”….which “enables rapid targeting and eliminates need for wind corrections prior to launch.” Unconfirmed reports suggest that the “separating warhead section has a miniature propulsion system to correct the attitude before re-entry, as well as adjusting the terminal trajectory.”Source NTI
Shaheen 1: The high-precision Shaheen-1 missile has a range of up to 700 kilometers (about 440 miles). It is a railroad platform-based mobile variant of the Pakistani Hatf-IV ballistic missile.
LONG RANGE GHAURI: The Kahuta Laboratories, which is also responsible for Pakistan’s uranium bomb program, has built the Gahuri missile which is also in production. It has been compared to North Korean Nodong and the longer range Taepodong missiles.The Ghauri (Hatf-V) missile was tested in April 1998. The Ghauri is liquid-fueled and is Pakistan’s imported version of the North Korean Nodong, itself a fancy Scud. Official Pakistani statements claim the missile has a maximum range of 1500 km carrying a 700 kg payload, but analysis by the U.S. Department of Defense of the Ghauri puts the range closer to 1000 km. According to Dr. A. Q. Khan, who is credited with being the father of Pakistan’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, the Ghauri flew 1100 km in its flight-test in April, supporting the Pentagon’s analysis. Press reports put the tested range as being between 700 km and 1200 km.The Ghauri is reported to have a relatively large diameter – 1.25 m. Pakistan is capable of producing nuclear warheads approximately the size of a soccer ball and weighing 400 kg, a size which would easily fit on a 1.25 m missile. Dr. Khan claimed that Ghauri is now “fully operational.” And when asked if Pakistan is now capable of deploying nuclear weapons, he replied, “No doubt about it, one should not be under any illusions.” He said it could be done within “not months, not weeks, but within days.”
Hatf-5, (Ghauri 1). A Strategic Missile Group (SMG) of Pakistan Army’s Strategic Force Command (ASFC) conducted a successful training launch of Ghauri Missile (IRBM)” . Pakistan’s liquid-engine ballistic missile program is spearheaded by KRL. Comparable to Soviet R-17, and Korean Nodong.
- Est. Range: 1000 km, Est. Payload: 700 kg,
- Est. Launch Weight: 16,000 kg.
- Propulsion: Single-stage, liquid propellant.
- Comments: Mobile platform. Status: flight-tested.
“KRL has also disclosed plans for longer-range versions of the Ghauri: the Ghauri-II and possibly Ghauri-III. A more powerful engine for longer-range versions of the Ghauri is under development.[37] Some statements attributed to Pakistani nuclear scientists and government leaders suggest that the Ghauri-II will have a range of 1,700km; other statements suggest that the Ghauri-III will have a strike-range of 2,000-3,500km” Comparable DPRK Taopodong
Hatf-VI (IRBM) Shaheen II is Pakistan’s longest-range ballistic missile system with a range of 2000 kilometers and has the potential to achieve 2500 kilometers in an advanced version. It is a two-stage solid fuel missile which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads with high accuracy.
April 26, 2008: Pakistan announced that, after nearly a decade of development, its Hatf VI IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) is ready for service. The system, also called Shaheen II, has a range of 2,000 kilometers, can carry a nuclear warhead, and hit any part of India. At least a dozen of these missiles are being built, and moved around on mobile transporter/launchers. The Hatf VI will be a major part of Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent against Indian invasion
… a 700-2,500km-range missile dubbed as the Shaheen-II, about which little is known.[30] Mock-ups of the missile displayed during the National Day celebrations in March 2003 suggest that it is a two-stage, solid-motor, road mobile system, transported on a 12-wheel TEL vehicle. Analysts speculate that the Shaheen-II is possibly a two-stage version of the M-9, or more likely a copy of the M-18, which was publicly displayed at an exhibition in Beijing in either 1987 or 1988. The M-18 was originally advertised as a two-stage system with a payload capacity of 400-500kg over a range of 1,000km.[31] U.S. intelligence sources suggest that Pakistan remains heavily reliant on external assistance for the Shaheen-II program and that China is actively assisting Pakistan through the supply of missile components, specialty materials, dual-use items, and other miscellaneous forms of technical assistance.[32].
Development flight tests of the Shaheen-II began in March 2004 when a 26-ton missile was launched from Pakistan’s Somiani Flight Test Range on the Arabian Sea.[33] According to the Chairman of Pakistan’s National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, the missile covered a distance of 1,800km during the test. [34]. The missile was tested in March 2005, April 2006, and February 2007.[55] Subsequently, reports in summer 2007 stated that Pakistan had begun the process of deployment of the Shaheen-II.[53]
The missile’s basic airframe is made from steel, although some sections may be crafted out of aluminum. The propulsion system is a liquid rocket engine that uses a storable combination of inhibited red fuming nitric acid and kerosene. During the boost phase, four jet vanes are used for thrust vector control. It is also believed that the missile uses three body-mounted gyros for attitude and lateral acceleration control. In addition, “a pendulum integration gyro assembly serves for speed control.” The Nodong’s range and throw weight has been variously estimated between 800-1,500km and 700-1,300kg, respectively.
Septmeber 2009: New information has now been published by the Federation of American Scientists about Pakistani missiles. Mr. Hans Kristensen reveled in September of 2009 that the Pakistani Shaheen II have now been operationalized.
- Mr Kristensen wrote that Pakistan’s nuclear-capable Shaheen-II medium-range ballistic missile also appears to be approaching operational deployment after long preparation.
- The Army test-launched two missiles within three days in April 2008, and the US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Centre (NASIC) reported in June 2009 that the weapon “probably will soon be deployed,” he noted.
- Two types of nuclear-capable cruise missiles are also under development —— the ground-launched Babur and the air-aunched Ra—ad, Mr Kristensen said.
BABAR HATF-7, Ra’ad (Hatf VII). CRUISE MISSILES: Pakistan schocked India and the world when it tested a stealth cruise missile in 2005. Babar Hatf-7. The Babar cruise missile can carry nuclear or conventional warheads. The 1.5-tonne, 22-foot long missile is capable of carrying a 250-kg warhead. It is believed Pakistan is working on developing a nuclear warhead that would fit into it. Since 2005, Islamabad has also carried out several tests of its Babur (Hatf VII) cruise missile, two such tests coming in March and June 2007.
The Hatf-VIII Ra’ad Cruise missile: Pakistan successfully tested a nuclear-capable, air-launched cruise missile with a range of 350 km on Thursday. This cruise missile has been developed exclusively for launch from aircraft. The indigenously developed missile also had special stealth capabilities and could deliver all types of warheads with great accuracy. This cruise missile was tested on May 8, 2008http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf6ZezPYFik&feature=related
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf6ZezPYFik&feature=related]
This subsonic nuclear capable missile, has a range of 700 km.[48] In addition, in August 2007, Pakistan tested a new cruise missile, the Ra’ad (Arabic for “Thunder”). This missile, which is air-launched, has a range of 350 kilometers.[1] Thus, along with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles are increasingly part of Pakistan’s nuclear calculus. [2] Source: [49] “Pakistan Military Test-Fires Nuclear Capable Cruise Missile,” International Herald Tribune, August 25, 2007, http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/25/asia/AS-GEN-Pakistan-Missile-Test.php.[50] See “Nuclear Cruise Missiles,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, November/December 2007, pp. 62-63,
IN DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCTION:ICBMS AND SLV Taimur: In the future, an even longer-ranged missile is likely, according to the Rumsfeld Commission. Analysts have estimated that Pakistani misisle technology has grown beyond the basic stages and is capable of Intercontinental reach. Pakistan is working on the Taimur Sat. Luanch vehicle which has been kept under close wraps. The space and the ICBM program is closely linked.
- Short Range Missiles: Hataf
- Medium Range Missiles: Shaheen
- Long Range Missiles: Ghauri
- ICBM/SLV: Taimur
| Designation | Comparable to | Range (km) | Payload (kg) | First Launch | Operational | Inventory | Comments | |
| Hatf-1 | Short Range | 60-100 | 500 | Jan 1989 | testing | Some? | ||
| Hatf-2 | Short Range | Shadoz | 280 | 500 | Jan 1989 | Cancelled | None | |
| Shaheen | Medium RangeHatf-3 ? | PRC M-11 | 300 | 500 | 15 April 1999 | 1995? | ~34-80? | |
| Shaheen-I | Medium RangeHatf-4 ? | DF15NATO CSS-6PRC M-9 | 800 | 500 | ||||
| Shaheen-II(IRBM) | Medium RangeHatf-6 | PRC M-18 | 2,000 | 09 March 2004 | April 2008 | Some | ||
| Ghauri | Long RangeHatf-5 | DPRK ND-1.Similar to North Korea (No-dong) and Iran (Shehab-3). | 1,350-1,500 | 700 kg | 06 April 1998 | 1998? | Some | |
| Ghauri-III | Long RangeAbdali | DPRK TD-1 ?? | 2,500 | |||||
| Tipu | DPRK TD-2 ?? | 4,000 | ||||||
| Ghaznavi | ?,000 |
| Designation | Comparable to | Range (km) | Payload (kg) | First Launch | Operational | Inventory | Comments | |
| Hataf IV | ||||||||
| Taimur | SLV | 350 | 500 | Jan 2009? | Testing | None | ||
| Hataf V | ||||||||
| Hataf VI | ||||||||
| Hataf VIII | 8 | Raad-Cruise Missile | 350 | May 2008 | testing | Hataf VIII | ||
| Hataf X | ||||||||
| Hataf XI | ||||||||
| Hataf XII | ||||||||
| Hataf XIII | Hatav IX |
Source: Pakistan’s Nuclear Capable Missiles, The Risk Report Volume 5 Number 1 (January-February 1999), and publicly available press reports.
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Jointly Redesigned and upgraded Chinese J-10Bs built in Pakistan as FC-20s to be operationalized before 2015 
The Pakistani hawks in the sky: Y-89 AWACS 
Nothing succeeds like success: Hataf, Ghauri, Babar, Abdali missiles

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Serial production of JF-17 Thunder expedited:30-50 per year to 100 per annum 
Beyond the Pakistani made JF-17 Thunder Fighter Plane, Chinese made J-10s.PAF next acquisition the J-11s? 
Pakistan defense based on missile nuclear deterrent Hataf, Shaheen Babar and Abdali
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Pakistani made UAVs: Uqaab & Jasoos 
3 New shipyards support Pakistani ship building & Frigates 
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Chinese SAMs S-300s for Pakistan
When with Iranian S-300s be operational?
Why did Pakistan buy fewer F-16s?
PAF: Nuclear armed deterrent to hegemony
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Tanks: Bharati Arjun vs. Pakistani Al Khalid
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INDIAN MISSILE PROGRAM JAN 10 2008: The Mail Today newspaper on Wednesday quoted the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as announcing that it would scrap its 25-year Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) by the end of this year.
“Plagued by cost overruns and repeated failures, the announcement is a virtual admission of failure,” the newspaper said. “In fact, some former chiefs of the different services said as much on hearing the news.”
Speaking of the Trishul surface-to-air missile that has now been termed a technology demonstrator, former naval chief Sushil Kumar said: “It was a national embarrassment. DRDO made fake claims for 25 years. In the 1999 Kargil conflict, the navy was vulnerable to attacks from Pakistan’s Harpoon.
“Finally the project was scrapped when the navy went in for the Israeli Barak missiles. The Prithvi’s naval variant, Dhanush, is also flawed and ill-conceived, which is being inflicted on the navy.”On the Akash missile, which was the subject of the DRDO media conference here on Tuesday, former air chief S. P. Tyagi said: “Akash was to be ready at a certain time, but it wasn’t. I had to change everything to make up for the delay.” Both missiles were part of a programme to develop indigenous weapons, which began in July 1983, with plans for Agni, Prithvi, Trishul, Akash and Nag missiles.
The IGMDP, which was aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in missile development and production, comprises five core missile programmes — the strategic Agni ballistic missile, the tactical Prithvi ballistic missile, the Akash and Trishul surface-to-air missiles and the Nag anti-tank guided missile.
The Mail Today quoted S. Prahlada, chief of the Control Research and Development, DRDO, as saying that development and production of most of the futuristic weapon systems would henceforth be undertaken with foreign collaboration.
With regard to the nuclear-capable Agni series, comprising I and II, the newspaper quoted army sources as saying while they had been tested five times each “a handful of tests are not enough to prove a missile’s worth”.
There were different problems with other systems too.
“Pakistan has always been one step ahead of India in its missile programme,” the newspaper said, adding that Islamabad has “a much more robust missile force than India, one capable of launching nuclear weapons to any part in this country.”
Unlike Indian missiles, which were declared “inducted” after a few tests, the Pakistani projectiles have always been thoroughly tested.
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The above comments are wrong. Indians are the first to made missiles.Tipu sultan used missiles to counter the british forces.indian missiles are purely indigenous…(vulgarity edited). In front of the nasa’s headquarters entry there is a painting ,which is a man fighting british forces with rockets.That is tipu sultan’s army
We present the “History of Rocketry” by KCS/NASAposted on solarvews.com which confirms that the Chinese created rocketry.
RupeeNews will be glad to entertain any solid evidence which confirms that Delhi produced the first rockets.
The earliest solid rocket fuel was a form of gunpowder, and the earliest recorded mention of gunpowder comes from China late in the third century before Christ. Bamboo tubes filled with saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal were tossed into ceremonial fires during religious festivals in hopes the noise of the explosion would frighten evil spirits.
It’s probable that more than a few of these bamboo tubes were imperfectly sealed and, instead of bursting with an explosion, simply went skittering out of the fire, propelled by the rapidly burning gunpowder. Some clever observer whose name is lost to history may have then begun experiments to deliberately produce the same effect as the bamboo tubes which leaked fire.
Certainly by the year 1045 A.D.–21 years before William the Conqueror would land on the shores of England–the use of gunpowder and rockets formed an integral aspect of Chinese military tactics.
A point of confusion arises tracing the history of rocketry back before 1045. Chinese documents record the use of “fire arrows,” a term which can mean either rockets or an arrow carrying a flammable substance.
By the beginning of the 13th Century, the Chinese Sung Dynasty, under pressure from growing Mongolian hordes, found itself forced to rely more and more on technology to counter the threat. Chinese ordnance experts introduced and perfected many types of projectiles, including explosive grenades and cannon.
Rocket fire-arrows were certainly used to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kai-fung-fu in 1232 A.D.
The rockets were huge and apparently quite powerful. According to a report: “When the rocket was lit, it made a noise that resembled thunder that could be heard for five leagues — about 15 miles. When it fell to Earth, the point of impact was devastated for 2,000 feet in all directions.” Apparently these large military rockets carried incendiary material and iron shrapnel. These rockets may have included the first combustion chamber, for sources describe the design as incorporating an “iron pot” to contain and direct the thrust of the gunpowder propellant.
The rocket seems to have arrived in Europe around 1241 A.D. Contemporary accounts describe rocket-like weapons being used by the Mongols against Magyar forces at the battle of Sejo which preceded their capture of Buda (now known as Budapest) December 25, 1241.
Accounts also describe Mongol’s use of a noxious smoke screen–possibly the first instance of chemical warfare.
Rockets appear in Arab literature in 1258 A.D., describing Mongol invaders’ use of them on February 15 to capture the city of Baghdad.
Quick to learn, the Arabs adopted the rocket into their own arms inventory and, during the Seventh Crusade, used them against the French Army of King Louis IX in 1268.
It is certain that, not later than the year 1300, rockets had found their way into European arsenals, reaching Italy by the year 1500, Germany shortly afterwards, and later, England. A 1647 study of the “Art of Gunnery” published in London contains a 43-page segment on rockets. The Italians are credited, by the way, with adopting military rockets for use as fireworks — completing the circle, so to speak, of the bursting bamboo used at the Chinese festivals 1,700 years earlier.
The French Army traditionally has been among the largest, if not THE largest, army in Europe and was quick to adopt rockets to military operations. Records from 1429 show rockets in use at the siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years War against the English.
Dutch military rockets appear by 1650 and the Germans’ first military rocket experiments began in 1668. By 1730, a German field artillery colonel, Christoph Fredrich von Geissler, was manufacturing rockets weighing 25 to 54 kilograms (55 to 120 pounds).
As the 18th Century dawned, European military experts began to take a serious interest in rockets — if only because they, like the Magyars 500 years earlier, found themselves on the receiving end of rocket warfare.
Both the French and the British, during the Eighteenth Century, began wrestling for control of the riches of India. In addition to fighting one another, they also found themselves frequently engaged against the Mogol forces of Tippoo Sultan of Mysore. During the two battles of Seringapatam in 1792 and 1799, rockets were used against the British. One of Tippoo Sultan’s rockets is now displayed in the Royal Ordnance Museum at Woolwich Arsenal, near London.
Tippoo Sultan’s father, Hyder Ally, had incorporated a 1,200 man contingent of rocketeers into his army in the year 1788. Tippoo Sultan increased this force to about 5,000 men, about a seventh of his total Army’s strength.
Profiting from their Indian experience, the British, led by Sir William Congrieve (KON-greeve), began development of a series of barrage rockets ranging in weight from 8 to 136 kilograms (18 to 300 pounds). Congrieve-design rockets were used against Napoleon.
It is surprising that Napoleon seems to have made no use of rockets in the French Army but it must be remembered Napoleon was an artillery officer and may have simply been too hide-bound a traditionalist to favor new-fangled rockets over more familiar cannons.
The scope of the British use of the Congrieve rocket can be ascertained from the the 1807 attack on Copenhagen. The Danes were subjected to a barrage of 25,000 rockets which burnt many houses and warehouses.
An official rocket brigade was created in the British Army in 1818.
Rockets came to the New World during the War of 1812.
During the Battle of Bladensburg, August 24, 1814, the British 85th Light Infantry used rockets against an American rifle battalion commanded by U.S. Attorney General William Pickney. British Lieutenant George R. Gleig witnessed the Americans’ response to the new threat. “Never did men with arms in their hands make better use of their legs,” he wrote.
On December 4, 1846, a brigade of rocketeers was authorized to accompany Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott’s expedition against Mexico. The Army’s first battalion of rocketeers — consisting of about 150 men and armed with about 50 rockets — was placed under the command of First Lieutenant George H. Talcott.
The rocket battery was used March 24, 1847, against Mexican forces at the siege of Veracruz.
On April 8 the rocketeers moved inland, being placed in their firing position by Captain Robert E. Lee (later to command the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the War Between the States). About 30 rockets were fired during the battle for Telegraph Hill. Later, the rockets were used in the capture of the fortress of Chapultepec, which forced the surrender of Mexico City.
With typical foresight, as soon as the fighting in Mexico was over, the rocketeer battalion was disbanded and the remaining rockets were placed in storage.
They remained in mothballs for about 13 years — until 1861 when they were hauled out for use in the Civil War. The rockets were found to have deteriorated, however, so new ones were made.
The first recorded use of rockets in the Civil War came on July 3, 1862, when Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s Confederate cavalry fired rockets at Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Union troops at Harrison’s Landing, Va. No record exists of the Northerners’ opinion of this premature “Fourth of July” fireworks demonstration.
Later in 1862, an attempt was made by the Union Army’s New York Rocket Battalion — 160 men under the command of British-born Major Thomas W. Lion — to use rockets against Confederates defending Richmond and Yorktown, Virginia. It wasn’t an overwhelming success. When ignited, the rockets skittered wildly across the ground, passing between the legs of a number of mules. One detonated harmlessly under a mule, lifting the animal several feet off the ground and precipitating its immediate desertion to the Confederate Army.
The only other documented use of rockets is at Charleston, S.C., in 1864. Union troops under Maj. Gen. Alexander Schimmelfennig found rockets “especially practical in driving off Confederate picket boats, especially at night.”
As an interesting sidelight, the author Burke Davis, in his book “Our Incredible Civil War,” tells a tale of a Confederate attempt to fire a ballistic missile at Washington, D.C., from a point outside Richmond, Va.
According to the author, Confederate President Jefferson Davis witnessed the event at which a 3.7 meter (12 foot) solid-fueled rocket, carrying a 4.5 kilogram (10 pound) gunpowder warhead in a brass case engraved with the letters C.S.A., was ignited and seen to roar rapidly up and out of sight. No one ever saw the rocket land. It’s interesting to speculate whether, almost 100 years before Sputnik, a satellite marked with the initials of the Confederate States of America might have been launched into orbit.
The military appears to have remained underwhelmed with the potential of rockets. They were employed in fits and starts in many of the brushfire wars which punctuated the otherwise calm closing days of the late Victorian Era. If the military was lukewarm to rockets, another profession welcomed them with open arms.
The international whaling industry developed rocket-powered, explosive-tipped harpoons which were most effective against the ocean-going leviathans.
During the First World War, rockets were first fired from aircraft attempting to shoot down enemy hydrogen gas-filled observation balloons. Successes were rare and pilots resisted being asked to fire rockets from the highly flammable, cloth and varnish covered wings of their biplanes. The French were the principal users of aerial rockets, using a model developed by a Naval lieutenant, Y.P.G. LePrieur.
The principal drawback to rockets throughout this period of development was the type of fuel. Both here and abroad, experiments were under way to develop a more powerful, liquid-propelled rocket. Two young men stand out in this effort — one an American, Robert H. Goddard — the other a German, Wernher von Braun.
Radio commentator Paul Harvey tells a story of how young von Braun’s interest in rocketry almost got him labeled as a juvenile delinquent. At the age of 13, von Braun exhibited an interest in explosives and fireworks. His father could not understand his son’s consuming interest in so dangerous a hobby. He feared his son would become safecracker. One day the young teenager obtained six skyrockets, strapped them to a toy red wagon and set them off. Streaming flames and a long trail of smoke, the wagon roared five blocks into the center of the von Braun family’s hometown, where the rockets finally exploded.
As the smoke cleared, the toy wagon emerged as a charred wreck. Young von Braun emerged in the firm grasp of a policeman. Despite being severely reprimanded by his father, the youngster’s interest would not be denied. By the age of 22 he had earned his doctorate in physics. Two years later he was directing Germany’s military rocket development program.
Von Braun and his colleagues produced a number of experimental designs, the most famous of which was the A-4 rocket, which has gained distinction in history under another name — the vengeance weapon number two — V-2 for short. The V-2 was the first successful, long range ballistic missile, and von Braun is credited as its principal developer.
As World War II drew to a close, von Braun led his contingent of several hundred rocket scientists and engineers — all marked for death by the Nazis to prevent their capture by the Allies — into American lines.
In 1946, von Braun and his team arrived at White Sands, N.M., where, for the first time, von Braun learned of work done by the American rocket pioneer Robert Goddard.
Goddard’s interest in rockets began in 1898 when, as a 16-year-old, he read the latest publication of that early science fiction writer, English novelist H.G. Wells. The book which so excited Goddard was later made into a 1938 radio program that nearly panicked our entire nation when it was broadcast. Orson Well’s too realistic rendition of the “War of the Worlds” still causes many to shudder.
As the 20th Century began, Wilbur and Orville Wright were preparing to become the first men to fly. Goddard, however, was already designing rockets to probe the upper atmosphere and delve into space. Half a world away — and unknown to Goddard — a Russian school teacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, was thinking along much the same lines. Both came to the conclusion independently that, if a rocket was going to do the things they dreamed of, it would have to be powered by liquid fuels. Solid fuels of the time simply didn’t have sufficient power. Tsiolkovsky lacked Goddard’s practicality. While Tsiolkovsky worked out many principles of astronautics and designed suitable rockets, he never built any. By contrast, Goddard was a technical man. He could and did build rockets. By the time he died in 1945, Goddard held 214 patents in rocketry — patents which still produce royalties for his estate.
Goddard began his experiments in rocketry while studying for his doctorate at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.
He first attracted attention in 1919 when he published a paper titled, “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes.” In his paper he outlined his ideas on rocketry and suggested, none too seriously, that a demonstration rocket should be flown to the Moon.
The general public ignored the scientific merit of the paper — latching instead onto Goddard’s Moon rocket proposal. At the time, such an endeavor was absurd and most dismissed Goddard as a “crank.”
The experience taught Goddard a hard lesson — one which caused him to shy away from future opportunities to publicize his work. Publicity was far from Goddard’s mind on the morning of March 16, 1926. On that day, barely a year after Wernher von Braun’s rocket wagon fiasco, Goddard launched a liquid-powered rocket he had designed and built from a snow-covered field at his Aunt Effie Goddard’s farm in Auburn, Mass. The rocket flew only 46 meters (152 feet) — about the same distance as the Wright Brothers’ first manned flight — but it did fly! It was the first flight of a liquid-fueled rocket in history.
When Goddard was later approached by the American Interplanetary Society in 1930 to publicize his work, Goddard refused. The society, rebuffed and learning that no one in the United States aside from Goddard was working with rockets, turned its attention to rocket research under way in Europe, where rocketry was beginning to develop a following.
In the spring of 1931, two founder-members of the American society, husband and wife Edward and Lee Pendray, travelled on vacation to Germany where they made contact with the German Rocket Society, which had been formed in 1927. The visiting Americans were given a preview of the future when a member of the German Rocket Society — Prof. Willy Ley — took the pair to the Germans’ rocket flying test ground in the suburbs of Berlin.
Returning home, the Pendrays filed an enthusiastic report of their visit, prompting the American society to build its first rocket. The attempted test flight in November 1932 ended with the American design firmly on the ground. It’s unfortunate the Pendrays didn’t meet another future rocketry hall-of-famer who also was a member of the German society. Rumanian-born Hermann Oberth wrote, in 1923, a highly prophetic book: “The Rocket into Interplanetary Space.” The book enthralled many with dreams of space flight, including that precocious German teenager, Wernher von Braun, who read the book in 1925. Five years later, von Braun had joined Oberth and was assisting with rocket experiments.
By 1932, the German Army was beginning to show an interest in the German Rocket Society’s efforts, and in July of that year, a “Mirak” rocket was launched as a demonstration for the head of the newly created German Army rocket research group, Captain (later Major General) Walter Dornberger.
Mirak didn’t impress Dornberger.
Von Braun did.
Three months after the demonstration flight, von Braun was engaged to work on liquid propelled rockets for the Army. Most of the German Rocket Society followed von Braun into national service and the society disbanded.
By December 1934, von Braun scored his first successes with an A2 rocket powered by ethanol and liquid oxygen. Two years later, as plans for the follow-on A3 rocket were being finalized, initial planning began for the A4 rocket — a rocket that was to be, in Dornberger’s words, a practical weapon, not a research tool. As noted earlier, most know the A4 by another name — the V-2.
The rocket researchers quickly outgrew their facilities at Kummersdorf on the outskirts of Berlin and, in 1936, operations were transferred to a remote island on Germany’s Baltic coast — Peenemuende.
Between 1937 and 1941, von Braun’s group launched some 70 A3 and A5 rockets, each testing components for use in the proposed A4 rocket.
The first A4 rocket flew in March 1942. The rocket barely cleared some low clouds before crashing into the sea a half mile from the launch site.
The second launch in August 1942 saw the A4 rise to an altitude of 11 kilometers (7 miles) before exploding.
The third try was the charm. On October 3, 1942, another A4 roared aloft from Peenemuende, followed its programmed trajectory perfectly, and landed on target 193 kilometers (120 miles) away. This launch can fairly be said to mark the beginning of the space age. The A4, the first successful ballistic rocket, is the ancestor of practically every rocket flown in the world today.
Production of the A4 began in 1943 and the first A4s, now renamed V2s, were launched against London in September 1944.
The V-2 offensive came too late to affect the course of the war. By April 1945, the German Army was in full retreat everywhere and Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin.
At an inn near Oberjoch, the Haus Ingeburg, von Braun and over 100 of his rocket experts waited for the end. The entire team had been ordered executed by Hitler to prevent their capture. Wernher von Braun’s brother, Magnus, however, managed to contact nearby American forces before Hitler’s SS henchmen could reach the rocket team. On May 2, the same day Berlin fell to the Soviet Army, von Braun and his rocket team entered American lines and safety.
With the fighting over, von Braun and his team were heavily interrogated and jealously protected from Russian agents. V2s and V2 components were assembled. German rocket technicians were rounded up. In June, General Eisenhower sanctioned the final series of V2 launches in Europe. Watching each of the three V2s which rose from a launch site at Cuxhaven was a Russian Army colonel, Sergei Korolev. Ten years later, Korolev would be hailed as the Soviet Union’s chief designer of spacecraft and the individual responsible for building the Vostok, Voshkod and Soyuz spacecraft which, since 1961, have carried all Soviet cosmonauts into orbit.
Few members of von Braun’s team participated in the Cuxhaven launches. Most had already begun setting up shop at Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas. Piled up in the desert near Las Cruces, New Mexico, were enough parts to build 100 V2s. Von Braun and his team soon moved to nearby White Sands Proving Ground where work began assembling and launching V2s. By February 1946, von Braun’s entire Peenemuende team had been reunited at White Sands and, on April 16, the first V2 was launched in the United States. The U.S. space program was under way!
Up to 1952, 64 V2s were launched at White Sands. Instruments, not explosives, packed the missiles’ nosecones. A V2 variant saw the missile become the first stage of a two stage rocket named Bumper. The top half was a WAC Corporal rocket. The need for more room to fire the rockets quickly became evident and, in 1949, the Joint Long Range Proving Ground was established at remote, deserted Cape Canaveral, Fla. On July 24, 1950, a two-stage Bumper rocket became the first of hundreds to be launched from “the Cape.”
The transfer of launch operations to the Cape coincided with the transfer of the Army’s missile program from White Sands to a post just outside a north Alabama cotton town called Huntsville. Von Braun and his team arrived in April 1950. It was to remain his home for the next 20 years, a period in which the city’s population increased ten fold.
The von Braun team worked to develop what was essentially a super-V2 rocket, named for the U.S. Army arsenal where it was being designed — the Redstone.
In 1956, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency was established at Redstone Arsenal under von Braun’s leadership to develop the Jupiter intermediate range ballistic missile. A version of the Redstone rocket, known as the Jupiter C, was used on January 31, 1958, to launch America’s first satellite, Explorer I. Three years later, Mercury Redstones launched Alan Shepard and Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom on suborbital space flights, paving the way for John Glenn’s first orbital flight.
In 1958, NASA was established, and, two years later, von Braun, his team, and the entire Army Ballistic Missile Agency were transferred to NASA to become the nucleus of the agency’s space program.
The Army Missile Command, which owns Redstone Arsenal, continued its vital national defense mission after the transfer of ABMA to NASA, chalking up a remarkable number of successful programs to augment America’s landpower. MICOM’s successes include the Pershing II, the NIKE weapons systems, the HAWK system, Improved HAWK, Corporal, Sergeant, Lance and Chaparral, to name a few.
Pursuing a separate course — that of developing rockets for space exploration — the Marshall Space Flight Center’s past quarter century has been a time of superlatives.
In 1961, almost as Alan Shepard was drying off from his landing in the Atlantic following his riding a Marshall-designed Redstone rocket on a sub-orbital flight which made him the first American in space, President Kennedy committed this nation to being first on the Moon. NASA’s Marshall Center was charged with developing the family of giant rockets which would take us there.
The Saturn rockets developed at Marshall to support the Apollo program and to honor President Kennedy’s pledge were, at the time, the most powerful space launch vehicles yet to have been invented.
Engineers, scientists, contractors, and other support personnel built well. On July 20, 1969, a transmission from the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility reported: “The Eagle has landed.”
Marshall’s Saturn rockets first took us around the Moon, then to its cratered surface. Marshall-developed lunar excursion vehicles — the ungainly Moon Buggies — carried astronauts on far-ranging excursions in pursuit of samples of lunar soil and rock.
Closer to home, the team at Marshall developed America’s first space station — Skylab. Built to replace the upper stage of a Saturn V moon rocket, the Skylab module was successfully placed in orbit early on May 14, 1973.
Placing Skylab in orbit marked a major transition in the story of rocketry. Up until Skylab, the rocket had been the star — the featured attraction. The focus had been on the up and down — launch and recovery. Skylab, in essence stole the show. For the first time, space became a place in which to live and work. Flying aboard a rocket was about the Earthside equivalent of driving the family car to work. Just as having to drive to work is only incidental to work itself — flying aboard a rocket became secondary to the work done once Skylab had been reached. The rocket, simply stated, became a means to an end — the end in this case being the opportunity to learn to live and work in space.
A rash of malfunctions plagued Skylab’s early days — problems which tested the resourcefulness of the entire NASA team. The problems were overcome, however, and Skylab went on to become one of Marshall’s proudest achievements.
A Marshall-developed Saturn I-B also carried aloft America’s half of the first joint U.S.-Soviet space endeavor, the Apollo-Soyuz project.
After Apollo, the team at Marshall tackled designing a revolutionary national space transportation system, which came to be known simply as “The Space Shuttle.”
It is anything but simple!
The space shuttle main engines are among the most powerful, most sophisticated devices ever invented. They represent a quantum leap in technology advancement over the engines which powered the Saturn V. Each of the three main engines in tail of the shuttle can provide almost a half-million pounds of thrust, a thrust equal to that produced by all eight of the Saturn I’s first stage engines. Unlike most previous rocket engines, which were designed to be used only once — and then for only a few minutes — the space shuttle’s main engines are designed to be used again and again, for up to 7.5 hours. The thrust to weight ratio for these engines is the best in the world — each engine weighs less than 7,000 pounds but puts out the power equivalent of seven Hoover Dams!
Twenty-four successful flights of the space shuttle lulled America into a sense of complacency. Shuttle launches became routine — a ho-hum event which had to scramble for an inch or two on page 2.
Then came the Challenger disaster….
The time since the loss of Challenger has been the busiest in the history of Marshall Space Flight Center. Teams of experts have been organized to find and fix the problems which led to the accident. Investigation quickly focused on a defective joint in the space shuttle’s solid rocket motors. Rocket propulsion experts devised a number of modifications to the solid rocket motor design to remedy the fault.
A vigorous test program was undertaken to show that the problems had been solved.
The disaster-enforced hiatus in shuttle operations gave Marshall — and other NASA installations — an opportunity to address other shuttle-related concerns. Major steps were taken to enhance the reliability and safety of the turbine blades and turbo pumps in the shuttle’s main engines. An escape system was created for the shuttle crew. Improvements were made to the orbiter’s landing gear and brakes.
When America returned to manned spaceflight in 1988, it did so in a space vehicle which was vastly safer and more capable.
NASA also is examining using expendable launch vehicles on missions which do not require the shuttle’s unique capabilities, and is looking into development of a new generation of heavy lift launch vehicles.
These will become the next chapter in the story of rocketry — a story whose first chapters were written more than 2,400 years ago.
No one can say where our path will lead or when — hopefully never — the last chapter in this history will be written.
Indian rocketry is mostly Russian based. Source Defense News, and Wikipedia among others. Indian missiles are not worth much. See head of Indian army disparage all Indian missle programs.
Indian rocketry is the way it is because they refuse to let significant portions of their population into the development of weaponry. Perhaps they can start by honoring the descendents of Tipu sultan who live in abject poverty in Calcutta. They can hire them all as consultants. India has done a major disservice to itself by marginilizing Moslems. Spain did that also & was soon overtaken by the British, Portuguese and the Dutch.
Author Moin, who claim to have 5000 years of Pakistan history, donot you Pakis even have a single personality in your history that you are honoring Afgani Heros. Hehehehehehe
A BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with a strike-range of 290 km was on Thursday dec 18, 2008 successfully test-fired in a vertical launch configuration for the first time by the Indian Navy. With this launch, BrahMos has become the world’s first and only supersonic cruise missile capable of being launched from both vertical and inclined positions from naval platforms. “BrahMos missile was successfully test fired in vertical-launch Indian Navy’s second line of Talwar Class ships, under construction in Russia’s [Images] Kaliningrad Shipyard, will also be equipped with new universal vertically launcher modules.The IAF is carrying out structural modifications on the Su-30MKI aircraft to develop an air launched version of the missile.
Should see this web-page
https://forums.yaleglobal.yale.edu/thread.jspa?threadID=951&tstart=60
>missile program that is the envy of South Asia.
maybe so. but of what use? india will never invade pakistan. already kashmir is a pain in the neck for us. why would we look at pakistan to get greater pain? and so the money spent on these missiles will go to waste – it would have been better if you had developed academic institutions and training centers which are “the envy of the world” – and which would have truly benefitted your people.
Nandakuma:
Obviously you suffer from temple education and the Bharati media. Your questions are loaded and depict a pre-disposition based on the bigotry so prevalent in the society that exists in the valley of the Ganges.
Your question is loaded. If you had a real question, you would have asked it differently. You presume that Pakistanis are a certain way and then you ask your question.
Let me inform you–Pakistan had one university in 1947–today it has 150, some world class ones, the envy of South Asia. Let me mention just one “Agha Khan Univeristy” in Karachi with campuses all over Pakistan.
In 1947, Pakistan was one of the most backward areas of South Asia. That was one reason for the creation of Pakistan. Today Pakistani PER CAPITA GMP rivials that of South Asia, and is as a matter of fact the hightest in South Asia. All this despite a devastating earthquake, a war in Afghanistan and a belligerent neighbor that continues to attempt to destabilize Pakistan.
We counted five of your postes published. We don’t think I deleted any one of them. Be patient. Thousands read this site every day. Our team may not get to all comments.
It is not a question of “pain” Pakistan was formed of all the Muslim majority areas of South Asia. Kashmir is one. It belongs to Pakistan.
Pakistan history is barely 60 years old. Earlier it was Sindhu(Indus) civilization. It is varied for of S/H(INDUS) civilization. The traditions of HINDUS match to that of indus valley civilization. Hence it was indian territory, which extended in Afghanistan. It is evident from the remains that the civilization was more of hindus. Kashmir by the way was merged by the then King of Jammu and Kashmir in to india and hence it became pain for pakistan. Sindh was a hindu populated state but went to PAK, that way it should be with India.
There are some comments I need to make regarding The Indian Missile program. For starters, it’s our responsibility to reveal the constant tension between centripetal and centrifugal forces of dialogized heteroglossia resulting from The Indian Missile program’s protests. That’s the first step in trying to institute change, and it’s the only way to teach the worst types of sophomoric parasites there are about tolerance. We must rise to the challenge of thwarting The Indian Missile program’s slaphappy plans. We must take the mechanisms, language, ideology, and phraseology for determining what is right and what is wrong out of the hands of The Indian Missile program and its operatives and put them back in the hands of ordinary people. And we must halt the adulation heaped upon passive-aggressive, deceitful peculators. Please join me in incorporating these words into our living credo.
The editor of this article is a complete moron. If anyone in the planet is a bigger threat to world security, that is Pakistan.
I see how conveniently Pakistan ignores the accomplishments of its neighbor and uses aggressive and tones to describe situations with anti India rhetoric. Then says good things about its copycat ally china, like rocket history, which is true but not really relevant. The dates for Tipu’s kingdom using rockets and Chinese are close. Not only that, there are no true domestic achievements of Pakistan ( without Chinese assistance) even if you were told by your government otherwise. Only accelerated terrorism is an achievement so here we have an over eager moron pretending to be a ‘know all.’
As far as anyone is concerned Pakistan only exists and has any defenses at all due to India-China stance towards each other.
Same goes with US helping Pakistan vs China helping Pakistan. In both ways Pakistan benefits and continues to be an irrational and immature little child that it is, in front of the world.
Here comes another temple indoctrinated bot from the land of the gandee nalee called Ganga.
Tipu Sultan, one of the greatest Muslim kings of all times had nothing to do with “India”. He was the head of the Mysore State and was a freedom fighter. He fought the British feverishly while others like the Marhattas and Gandhi appeased and supported them.
Bharat is Terror Central for China (Xinjiang), Bangladesh (Chittagong Hill Tracks), Tibet (Dalai Lama), Lanka (LTTE), Maldives (attempt to take over), Bhutan (Attempt to absorb), and Sikkim (attempt to incorporate), and Pakistan (TTP).
If “Anyone” means bigoted Bharati–then you may right. Obvioulsy could not read the article–it goes against you every grain. You should stick to your own security blanket and read Hindu Unity . Org. This site provides information—which are cannot fathom.
Your rhetoric against Pakistan is juvenile frustration–since you really cannot cross the border because of the Nuclear deterrent