Pakistan Missile Milestones - 1961-2005
The Risk Report
Volume 12 Number 1 (January-February 2006)
1961: Establishment of the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), Pakistan's space agency.
1962: The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) helps train Pakistani scientists and engineers. Pakistan launches its first sounding rocket.
1985: Congress passes the Pressler Amendment barring U.S. aid unless the U.S. president can certify Pakistan does not possess a nuclear explosive device.
1989: According to Pakistani sources, Hatf-1 and Hatf-2 missiles are fired to ranges of 80 and 300 kilometers respectively. Pakistan and China also sign a ten-year cooperation agreement in defense science, technology and industry, including joint procurement, research and development, production and technology transfer.
1990: President Bush can no longer certify Pakistan has no nuclear weapons. The United States suspends military aid to Pakistan.
July 1990: Pakistan's first satellite, the 50 kg Badr-A (Badr-1), is launched as part of a test flight of China's Long March 2E booster, according to Aviation Week and Space Technology.
1991: The United States punishes two Chinese entities and Pakistan's SUPARCO for missile proliferation activities.
April 1991: The Washington Post reports that U.S. intelligence agencies have spotted what appears to be a number of launch vehicles for Chinese M-11 ballistic missiles in Pakistan.
December 1991: A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman announces that China's Ministry of Aerospace Industry and Pakistan's SUPARCO have signed an agreement on cooperation in the peaceful application of space sciences and technology.
January 1992: The New York Times cites senior Bush administration officials as stating that China has delivered guidance systems for M-11 ballistic missiles to Pakistan.
June 1992: The U.S. Department of Commerce amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to clarify which destinations will require a validated license "when an exporter knows that the items will be used in the design, development, production or use of missiles." Pakistan's Hatf series is among the missile programs targeted.
1993: The United States punishes Pakistan's Ministry of Defense and ten Chinese entities for missile proliferation activities.
1994: Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says the testing and deployment of India's Prithvi surface-to-surface missile "threatens to trigger a missile race in the subcontinent."
1995: U.S. intelligence says it has strong evidence that Pakistan is building storage sheds, mobile launchers and maintenance facilities at the Sargodha military airbase for Chinese-supplied M-11 missiles.
May 1995: The periodical Flight International reports U.S. authorities are warning that Pakistan's SUPARCO has approached companies in several European countries to acquire, among other items, composites, specialist alloy, and a range of production and testing equipment for producing ballistic missiles.
July 1995: U.S. intelligence says evidence is incontrovertible that storage crates at Sargodha Air Force Base contain more than 30 M-11 medium range ballistic missiles (MRBM), delivered by China in 1992. Both Pakistan and China deny the deal.
March 1996: Taiwan confiscates 15 tons of ammonium perchlorate, used in the production of missile propellant, from a North Korean freighter bound for SUPARCO.
June 1996: Intelligence reports claim that Pakistan has uncrated and deployed the M-11 missiles.
July-December 1996: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) states that Pakistan is making "strong efforts to acquire an indigenous capability in missile production technologies," and that China "was a major supplier to Pakistan's ballistic missile program, providing technology and assistance."
October 1996: The Washington Post reports that, according to a classified U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, Pakistan may have developed nuclear warheads to mount on its M-11 missiles. U.S. intelligence officials also state that China is assisting Pakistan to build a medium-range missile factory in a Rawalpindi suburb, anticipated in a year or two to be able to produce most of the major components of a Chinese M-11 missile.
December 1996: Hong Kong custom officers raid a Chinese vessel and find 10 metric tons of ammonium perchlorate. The cargo is believed to have been shipped by the North Korean company Lyongaksan and bound for SUPARCO.
1997: The CIA states that Chinese and North Korean entities continued to provide assistance to Pakistan's ballistic missile program, which is "critical for Islamabad's efforts to achieve independence from foreign sources and to produce long-range ballistic missiles."
April 1998: Pakistan tests the Ghauri surface-to-surface nuclear-capable missile. According to Pakistani sources, the liquid-fueled missile can carry a 700 kilogram payload 1,500 kilometers.
May 1998: The U.S. State Department imposes two-year sanctions on Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) and Changgwang Sinyong Corporation of North Korea for cooperating on missile development.
May 1998: Pakistan sets off nuclear weapon tests in response to India's.
July 1998: The Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, led by Donald H. Rumsfeld, concludes that Pakistan has acquired production facilities to build the Ghauri missile, which is described as a version of the North Korean Nodong. It also concludes that Pakistan possesses M-11 missiles obtained from China and may be able to produce the "Tarmuk" missile based on the Chinese M-11.
August 1998: Pakistan claims it has recovered an American Tomahawk missile, which was fired during an American attack against terrorist camps in Afghanistan. Some Pakistani officials claim the find was a "jackpot" that could help advance Pakistan's missile technology, but American defense officials disagree.
September 1998: Pakistan completes a mobile, re-usable launcher designed for use with the solid-fueled, nuclear-capable Shaheen-I ballistic missile.
January 1999: Pakistan announces it is ready to test the Shaheen-I missile. The solid fuel missile has a range of 750 kilometers, and is designed to counter India's nuclear-capable Prithvi missiles.
February 1999: Indian Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif meet in Lahore, Pakistan. The leaders agree to exchange strategic information about their nuclear arsenals, to give each other advance notice of ballistic missile tests, and to increase efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue.
April 1999: Pakistan tests the liquid-fuel Ghauri-II (Hatf-VI) surface-to-surface missile in response to India's test of the Agni-II missile. KRL officials claim that the missile has a range of 2,300 kilometers. The next day, Pakistan successfully tests the Shaheen-I missile.
September 1999: KRL successfully tests the engine of the new Ghauri-III ballistic missile. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry claims the Ghauri-III will have a range of 2,700-3,000 kilometers, which would allow Pakistan to target all of India.
February 2000: Pakistan tests the 100-kilometer-range Hatf 1A solid-fueled surface-to-surface missile, developed by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).
March 2000: Pakistan unveils the road-mobile, solid-fuel, two-stage Shaheen-II MRBM at the annual Pakistan Day parade. Pakistani authorities claim it has a range of 2,500 kilometers and can carry a 1,000 kilogram payload.
March 2001: The periodical Dawn cites Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan (a.k.a. A.Q. Khan) as saying that Pakistani scientists are developing the nation's first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) under SUPARCO.
June 2001: According to a senior U.S. nonproliferation official cited in the periodical Nuclear Fuel, experts from the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Kahuta and experts from North Korea are cooperating on the development of solid-fuel missiles.
July-December 2001: The CIA's Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions reports that Chinese entities continue to provide "significant assistance," enabling Pakistan to move "toward serial production of solid-propellant SRBMs such as Shaheen-I and Haider-I." The report adds that Pakistan "needs continued Chinese assistance to support development of the two-stage Shaheen-II MRBM."
August 2001: According to the Deputy Director of the CIA, John E. McLaughlin, North Korea transferred the 1,300 km-range Nodong ballistic missile to Pakistan.
January 2003: The Ghauri (Hatf-V) medium-range ballistic missile is transferred to Pakistan's Army for induction.
January-June 2003: According to the CIA's unclassified report to Congress on proliferation, Chinese entities continue to provide assistance for Pakistan's ballistic missile program despite a Chinese pledge to the United States in November 2000 to end such assistance to nuclear-capable ballistic missile programs.
March 2004: The periodical Press Trust of India reports that Pakistan has test-fired the 2,000 km-range Shaheen-II (Hatf-VI) missile for the first time.
July 2004: During an interview with the periodical Asahi Shimbun, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is quoted as saying that Pakistan obtained missile technology from North Korea after Bhutto's December 1993 goodwill mission. Bhutto emphasizes that missiles were not exchanged for nuclear technology.
September 2004: Pakistan's National Assembly passes the Export Control on Goods, Technologies, Material and Equipment Related to Nuclear and Biological Weapons and their Delivery Systems Act. The finalized bill, posted in November by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), defines delivery systems as "missiles exclusively designed and adapted to deliver a nuclear or biological weapon." It covers "every citizen of Pakistan or person in the service of Pakistan within and beyond Pakistan or any Pakistani visiting or working abroad, any foreign national while in the territories of Pakistan and any ground transport, ship or aircraft registered in Pakistan wherever it may be."
August 2005: India and Pakistan reach an agreement on notification of flight-testing of ballistic missiles, following two days of talks on nuclear confidence-building measures.
August 2005: According to a Pakistani military spokesman, Pakistan successfully tests its first nuclear-capable, ground-launched 500 km-range Babur cruise missile.
August 2005: India's Scientific Advisor to the Defense Minister states that Pakistan's Babur missile is not supersonic or indigenously developed as Pakistan claimed. New Delhi Force, an independent Indian magazine, alleges that the Babur resulted from the transfer of technology from China's state-owned China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp. (CPMIEC) to Pakistan's state-owned National Development Complex (NDC).
