Shaheen-III Can Hit Any Point in India

NEW DELHI - April 30, 2015 - PRLog -- According to an item published in the latest issue of Indian Military Review Pakistan successfully launched Shaheen-III, the latest version of an "indigenously" developed nuclear-capable cruise missile on 9 March. The Shaheen-III missile is believed to have a maximum range of up to 2,750 kilometres. Depending upon the missile’s placement, Pakistan would be capable of carrying out a nuclear strike from Israel in the West to Kazakhstan in the north and Burma in the east.

Giving details, the new issue of Indian Military Review, published from New Delhi says although the missile would allow Pakistan to target the entirety of the Middle East and Central Asia, the missile’s primary target would be India.

The development of the Shaheen-III is intended as a “credible deterrence” against any possible Indian aggression towards the country. But India’s military is superior to Pakistan’s in terms of technological capacity and sheer numbers. To compensate, Pakistan has invested heavily in its nuclear deterrant. Pakistan has developed the 2,750 km range Shaheen-III missile to prevent India from gaining a second-strike nuclear capability from Andaman and Nicobar islands, said Lt General (retd) Khalid Kidwai, former head of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons division.

Kidwai is currently advisor to Pakistan’s National Command Authority (NCA) and was the pioneer Director General of Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division (SPD), which he headed for an unprecedented 15 years till December 2013 – with an unheard of 12 extensions after his retirement from the army. As the head of SPD, Kidwai is credited with conceiving, articulating and executing Pakistan’s nuclear policy and deterrence doctrines into a tangible and robust nuclear force structure.

Kidwai said that Pakistan’s nuclear programme was not open-ended and it had been designed to deter India. Kidwai added that Pakistan had already moved from minimum deterrence to full spectrum deterrence and the current numbers will be more or less fine for the next 10-15 years. As per the estimates of Arms Control Association, Pakistan currently has between 100 to 120 nuclear warheads as compared to India’s 90-110 warheads.

The Shaheen is a series of solid-fuelled missiles. Despite many technological set backs and learning from India's developmental experience of the Agni-II, the project continues to evolved and produced the Shaheen-I which entered into service in 1999. The Shaheen project has produced three variants that are considered to be in the medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) range. The Shaheen-II has a range of 2,500km with a capacity of carrying payload of 1050kg. Its third variant, the Shaheen-III, has an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) range.