Pakistan develops anti-tank guided missile
By Naveed Ahmad
Pakistan has acquired but not declared its capability to produce anti-tank guided missiles as well as short range surface-to-air missiles whose flight tests have also been conducted quietly, said Brig Naeem Ahmad Salik, Director Arms Control and Disarmament wing at the JSHQ Strategic Plans Division.
The soldier-turned-academician, speaking on ‘Pakistan’s missile programme’, defended the country against allegation of building platforms on foreign technologies. He observed, "India’s Prithvi is a derivative of Russian SA-2 missile while Agni’s solid fuel stages are based on US scout Rocket technology while it employs hydraulic cranes of German origin for bringing it into the firing position."
Similarly, he pointed out, India has imported and installed Russian Club missiles on its Kilo class submarines as well as surface vessels besides deploying Israeli Barak missiles on its ships. "The joint Indo-Russian Brahmos is predominantly a Russian Missile," he stated in the presence of leading Indian strategists. He said the Indians only claim to have provided the guidance systems. It therefore is clearly unjustified and hypocritical to single out Pakistan for raising all kinds of accusing fingers.
Brig Salik said there is a pervasive myth that whereas certain countries have depended on imports of components and technology to develop their missile programmes there are those who are self-reliant and have developed their missile technology indigenously. He rejected the argument, saying that there is, however, no evidence to prove this contention.
"History bears testimony to the fact that Germany is probably the only nation whose missile programme can be classified as indigenous," he exclaimed. He also reminded the international conference of the fact that at the end of WW-II, the German scientists and engineers who had worked on the V-1 and V-II systems were taken away by Americans as well as Russians to set up their respective missile programmes.
Moreover, he said, Israeli’s Jericho missiles are based on French technology while the Arrow missile has benefited from US technology as well as money. "South Korea converted Nike Hercules surface-to-air missile supplied by the US into surface to surface missiles," he added.
Regarding Pakistan’s programme, Salik said Islamabad would continue to pursue the development of both liquid and solid fuelled missile system since "it does not make sense to abandon any programme after having spent scarce research and development resources".
He added that at least for the near term Pakistan was likely to continue fielding a variety of systems with varying range-payload combinations to retain flexibility of employment. On Indian desire to attain the Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABMs), Salik stated that they could adversely affect all potential restraint measures.
"Introduction of ABMs by India will not only have a destabilising effect on the evolving nuclear deterrent environment it will also trigger a costly and futile missile race in the region," he said. The problem with the ABM systems is that they create misperceptions by promoting proclivities for greater risk taking during series and also lead towards pre-emption tendencies with very serious repercussion for deterrence stability, remarked the arms control expert.
He even doubted the operational utility of these systems. "The instability to test these under realistic operational environments is in particular a major handicap". He also pointed to serious technical questions specific to the South Asian security environment particularly "the extremely short time of flight of missiles coupled with deficiencies in real time intelligence and early warning systems raises serious doubts about the efficacy of these systems in South Asia".
The FACT...........Pakistan develops anti-tank guided missile
Pakistan also produces:
- Baktar-Shikan - Baktar-Shikan is a variant of HJ-8 that has been manufactured under license by Pakistan since the late 1990s [1] and had a successful first test in July 1997.[6] The missile and launch system can be quickly disassembled into four sub-units, each weighing less than 25 kg, making the system man-portable. Baktar-Shikan is also mounted on Pakistani armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and a modified air-launched variant is used to arm the AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships and other helicopters of the Pakistan Army Aviation wing. Pakistan also exports Baktar-Shikan. The export version is credited to destroy all currently known tank targets with a 90% hit and penetration probability at a distance of 3 km.[10] Baktar-Shikan has been exported to Bangladesh and Malaysia.[11] An indoor training simulator is also available with Baktar-Shikan. It is an exact replica of the weapon and is used to train operators by simulating various target speeds, ranges and angles. The target's movement parameters can be adapted to the progressive skill level of the operator under training.[12] An optional laser aiming device is also under development to increase accuracy at longer ranges.[11]According to SIPRI, between 1990 and 2012, Pakistan has produced 21,350 Baktar-Shikan missiles.[13]