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NASR Opens New Chapter in India-Pakistan Arms Race.
Credit: asian-defence.blogspot.com
By Devinder Kumar
IDN-InDepth NewsReport
NEW DELHI (IDN) - A new chapter in arms race on the Indian subcontinent has been opened with Pakistan successfully conducting the first flight test of a newly developed short-range surface-to-surface missile capable of carrying both tactical nuclear and high-explosive conventional warheads.
Named 'Hatf IX' or NASR, it is referred to by Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations organisation as a 'Multi Tube Ballistic Missile' because the launch vehicle carries multiple missiles. NASR has a range of 60 km. It is powered by a high-thrust single-stage solid-propellant rocket motor. NASR's launch platform is a double-tube transporter erector launcher (TEL) capable of carrying two missiles.
Media reports on April 19 described NASR as a quick response system which has "shoot-and-scoot" nuclear delivery capability. Control surfaces behind the nose and tail of the missile help in improving the missile's aerodynamic lift, stability and maneuverability during flight.
According to military strategists, NASR test fire demonstrates that Pakistan has achieved the capability to deploy sub-kiloton, low yield tactical nuclear warheads. They view the Multi Tube Ballistic Missile as "Pakistan's answer to India's Cold Start Doctrine".
The Chinese 'People's Daily Online' said quoting 'Islamabad Globe': "Much of this so called 'Cold Start Strategy' is based on the Israeli strategy which it tried to implement in Lebanon. Israel was unable to implement its objectives in Lebanon and had to withdraw even from the Litani River."
It added: "The essence of the Cold Start doctrine is reorganising the army's offensive power that resides in the three strike corps into eight smaller division-sized integrated battle groups (IBGs) consisting of armour and mechanised infantry and artillery, closely supported by helicopter gunships, air force and airborne troops (parachute and heliborne).
"The IBGs are to be positioned close to the border so that three to five are launched into Pakistan along different axes within 72 to 96 hours from the time mobilisation is ordered.
"The probable objective areas for Cold Start could be (1) Ravi-Chenab corridor from two directions, an IBG along Jammu-Sialkot-Daska axis and another across the Ravi to link up with the first IBG, and (2) in the south against Reti-Rahim Yar Khan-Kashmore complex."
The online Chinese daily went on to say: "The U.S. had taken up concerns by Pakistan on the perceived Cold Start strategy of the Indian Army that envisages rapid deployment of troops on the western border to escalate to a full blown war within days but has been told that such a doctrine does not exist but is a term that has been fabricated by think tanks.
"The matter was repeatedly taken up by senior U.S. Defence delegations after Pakistan voiced concerns that diverting more troops to the Afghan border would not be feasible given the Indian Cold Start strategy that could bring offensive elements of the Indian Army to its eastern border within four days."
Referring to India's Cold Start Doctrine, Pakistani defence analyst, Shireen Mazari said: "India has always felt that Pakistan had a loophole in terms of lacking short range battlefield nuclear weapons, which it could exploit on the assumption that it made little sense for Pakistan to respond to such conventional attacks with strategic nuclear weapons."
Mazari added: "With NASR, Pakistan has plugged that loophole. Indian dreams of a limited war against Pakistan through its 'cold start' strategy have been put into permanent 'cold storage.' This will allow for a reassertion of a stable nuclear deterrence in the region."
Strategic Plans Division Khalid Ahmed Kidwai said the successful NASR testing marked a milestone in consolidating Pakistan's strategic deterrence capability at all levels of the threat spectrum. Kidwai pointed out that in the hierarchy of military operations, NASR provided "Pakistan with short range missile capability in addition to the already available medium and long range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in its inventory".
Analysing the NASR testing, Ali Ahmed, an analyst at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) said: "Pakistan is the weaker side in the India-Pakistan dyad. Recognising this structural factor, its military, which also runs the state, has been constantly innovative in addressing what it perceives as an asymmetry. It has resorted to external balancing in renting out its strategic location for geopolitical use by external powers. It has forged a close relationship with China to balance India and help China in its strategic purposes in relation to India."
The Nasr test, said Ahmed, coincided with the launch of corps level Indian military manoeuvres, Exercise 'Vijayi Bha', in the Rajasthan deserts. Pakistan's nuclear related rhetoric is also designed to increase the salience of the nuclear overhang and addresses multiple audiences, in particular the U.S., he added.
Ahmed said the intention was to "get the U.S. focus back on the eastern front in terms of making the admittedly delicate balance seem untenably unstable, in light of U.S. keenness to get the Pakistani Army take on the Taliban in North Waziristan."
The prestigious IDSA analyst said the NASR was meant to deter India's launch of Cold Start. Since NASR is reportedly nuclear capable, short range and light weight, it could imply the use of tactical nuclear weapons were such a conflict to occur.
"Fearing a lower nuclear threshold, implied by availability of tactical nuclear weapons, India may be deterred from embarking on Cold Start. This would enable Pakistan to recreate the space it once had for continuing its prosecution of proxy war -- a space that has been constricted by India's formulation of a Cold Start doctrine, even though all the components of the doctrine such as weapons acquisitions, relocation of formations and change to a manoeuvre war culture are not yet entirely in place," Ahmed explained. (IDN-InDepthNews/24.04.2011).
IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters
Credit: asian-defence.blogspot.com
By Devinder Kumar
IDN-InDepth NewsReport
NEW DELHI (IDN) - A new chapter in arms race on the Indian subcontinent has been opened with Pakistan successfully conducting the first flight test of a newly developed short-range surface-to-surface missile capable of carrying both tactical nuclear and high-explosive conventional warheads.
Named 'Hatf IX' or NASR, it is referred to by Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations organisation as a 'Multi Tube Ballistic Missile' because the launch vehicle carries multiple missiles. NASR has a range of 60 km. It is powered by a high-thrust single-stage solid-propellant rocket motor. NASR's launch platform is a double-tube transporter erector launcher (TEL) capable of carrying two missiles.
Media reports on April 19 described NASR as a quick response system which has "shoot-and-scoot" nuclear delivery capability. Control surfaces behind the nose and tail of the missile help in improving the missile's aerodynamic lift, stability and maneuverability during flight.
According to military strategists, NASR test fire demonstrates that Pakistan has achieved the capability to deploy sub-kiloton, low yield tactical nuclear warheads. They view the Multi Tube Ballistic Missile as "Pakistan's answer to India's Cold Start Doctrine".
The Chinese 'People's Daily Online' said quoting 'Islamabad Globe': "Much of this so called 'Cold Start Strategy' is based on the Israeli strategy which it tried to implement in Lebanon. Israel was unable to implement its objectives in Lebanon and had to withdraw even from the Litani River."
It added: "The essence of the Cold Start doctrine is reorganising the army's offensive power that resides in the three strike corps into eight smaller division-sized integrated battle groups (IBGs) consisting of armour and mechanised infantry and artillery, closely supported by helicopter gunships, air force and airborne troops (parachute and heliborne).
"The IBGs are to be positioned close to the border so that three to five are launched into Pakistan along different axes within 72 to 96 hours from the time mobilisation is ordered.
"The probable objective areas for Cold Start could be (1) Ravi-Chenab corridor from two directions, an IBG along Jammu-Sialkot-Daska axis and another across the Ravi to link up with the first IBG, and (2) in the south against Reti-Rahim Yar Khan-Kashmore complex."
The online Chinese daily went on to say: "The U.S. had taken up concerns by Pakistan on the perceived Cold Start strategy of the Indian Army that envisages rapid deployment of troops on the western border to escalate to a full blown war within days but has been told that such a doctrine does not exist but is a term that has been fabricated by think tanks.
"The matter was repeatedly taken up by senior U.S. Defence delegations after Pakistan voiced concerns that diverting more troops to the Afghan border would not be feasible given the Indian Cold Start strategy that could bring offensive elements of the Indian Army to its eastern border within four days."
Referring to India's Cold Start Doctrine, Pakistani defence analyst, Shireen Mazari said: "India has always felt that Pakistan had a loophole in terms of lacking short range battlefield nuclear weapons, which it could exploit on the assumption that it made little sense for Pakistan to respond to such conventional attacks with strategic nuclear weapons."
Mazari added: "With NASR, Pakistan has plugged that loophole. Indian dreams of a limited war against Pakistan through its 'cold start' strategy have been put into permanent 'cold storage.' This will allow for a reassertion of a stable nuclear deterrence in the region."
Strategic Plans Division Khalid Ahmed Kidwai said the successful NASR testing marked a milestone in consolidating Pakistan's strategic deterrence capability at all levels of the threat spectrum. Kidwai pointed out that in the hierarchy of military operations, NASR provided "Pakistan with short range missile capability in addition to the already available medium and long range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in its inventory".
Analysing the NASR testing, Ali Ahmed, an analyst at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) said: "Pakistan is the weaker side in the India-Pakistan dyad. Recognising this structural factor, its military, which also runs the state, has been constantly innovative in addressing what it perceives as an asymmetry. It has resorted to external balancing in renting out its strategic location for geopolitical use by external powers. It has forged a close relationship with China to balance India and help China in its strategic purposes in relation to India."
The Nasr test, said Ahmed, coincided with the launch of corps level Indian military manoeuvres, Exercise 'Vijayi Bha', in the Rajasthan deserts. Pakistan's nuclear related rhetoric is also designed to increase the salience of the nuclear overhang and addresses multiple audiences, in particular the U.S., he added.
Ahmed said the intention was to "get the U.S. focus back on the eastern front in terms of making the admittedly delicate balance seem untenably unstable, in light of U.S. keenness to get the Pakistani Army take on the Taliban in North Waziristan."
The prestigious IDSA analyst said the NASR was meant to deter India's launch of Cold Start. Since NASR is reportedly nuclear capable, short range and light weight, it could imply the use of tactical nuclear weapons were such a conflict to occur.
"Fearing a lower nuclear threshold, implied by availability of tactical nuclear weapons, India may be deterred from embarking on Cold Start. This would enable Pakistan to recreate the space it once had for continuing its prosecution of proxy war -- a space that has been constricted by India's formulation of a Cold Start doctrine, even though all the components of the doctrine such as weapons acquisitions, relocation of formations and change to a manoeuvre war culture are not yet entirely in place," Ahmed explained. (IDN-InDepthNews/24.04.2011).
IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters
