Thursday, July 10, 2025
  • About us
    • Write for us
    • Disclaimer
    • Terms of use
    • Privacy Policy
  • RSS Feeds
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
DefenceTalk
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
DefenceTalk
No Result
View All Result
Home Defence & Military News Defense Geopolitics News

Pakistan Tests Longest-Range Missile Yet

by Editor
March 9, 2004
in Defense Geopolitics News
2 min read
0
14
VIEWS

AP,

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistan on Tuesday tested its longest-range missile yet, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and hitting targets deep inside neighboring India, the military said.

“Pakistan today successfully carried out the maiden test fire of the Shaheen 2 surface-to-surface ballistic missile,'' a military statement said, without giving details on where the test was conducted.

Tests in the past have been conducted in remote Baluchistan or into the Arabian Sea, or from a missile facility at Jhelum, 60 miles southeast of the capital, Islamabad.

The missile “can carry all types of warheads up to'' 1,250 miles, it said. A Defense Ministry official, who did not want to be named, said that meant both “conventional and unconventional warheads.''

Pakistan's previous longest-range missile was the Ghouri tested in 1997, which has a range of 810 miles.

Neighboring countries – including archrival India – had been informed in advance “as a confidence-building measure,'' the statement said. Both countries routinely conduct such missile tests, but also have used them in the past to send political messages or ratchet up tension.

Such a message was not likely to be hidden in Tuesday's test, which came amid peace moves in recent months between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals. Pakistan's government has said for weeks that it was planning the test, though it had not announced an exact date.

India and Pakistan last month set themselves a roadmap to peace that will include negotiations to solve their dispute over divided Kashmir – the issue at the heart of their five decades of hostility.

Domestically, the test appeared aimed at allaying concerns that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf was rolling back the country's nuclear program under international pressure, after Pakistan's top nuclear scientist admitted spreading sensitive technology to other countries.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, considered the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, confessed in February to proliferating weapons technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Musharraf pardoned Khan but political opponents have blamed the president for initiating an inquiry into Khan in the first place.

The statement released after Tuesday's test noted that Musharraf had announced the planned test launch of the Shaheen 2 at a press conference on Feb. 5 – when he announced Khan's pardon – while “categorically dismissing apprehensions of a rollback'' in Pakistan's nuclear deterrent.

The statement stressed that the Shaheen 2 is “indigenously developed by Pakistani scientists.'' Pakistan has been accused of trading its nuclear know-how to North Korea in exchange for the missile technology it lacked, a charge Islamabad denies.

Talat Masood, a former army general and military analyst, said the missile test demonstrated Pakistan's advances in missile technology and would help ease criticism at home in the wake of the nuclear proliferation scandal.

“Politically the government is trying to assure the people that its missiles and nuclear programs are moving ahead, and that the negative fallout of the proliferation affair has not affected any of its affairs,'' he told the AP.

Previous Post

Lockheed sees 70-75 deliveries of F-16s in next 2 years

Next Post

Turkey's EU entry hopes given a lift

Related Posts

Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

May 10, 2025

US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan after days of deadly jet fighter,...

Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

May 10, 2025

Pakistan's military on Saturday said India launched another wave of missiles targeting three air bases -- including one on the...

Next Post

Turkey's EU entry hopes given a lift

Latest Defense News

Britain, Germany jointly developing missiles: ministers

Britain, Germany jointly developing missiles: ministers

May 17, 2025
Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

Trump announces ‘full and immediate’ India-Pakistan ceasefire

May 10, 2025
Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

Pakistan says Indian missiles strike air bases as conflict spirals

May 10, 2025
J-10C fighter jet

Pakistan says India has brought neighbours ‘closer to major conflict’

May 9, 2025
North Korea fires multiple suspected cruise missiles

North Korea fires flurry of short-range ballistic missiles

May 9, 2025
China says ‘closely watching’ Ukraine situation after Russian attack

China vows to stand with Russia in face of ‘hegemonic bullying’

May 9, 2025

Defense Forum Discussions

  • Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates 2.0
  • The Russian-Ukrainian War Thread
  • Germany
  • US Navy News and updates
  • Military Aviation News and Discussion
  • Russia - General Discussion.
  • Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates
  • Indonesia: 'green water navy'
  • USAF News and Discussion
  • Japan Ground Self Defense Force
DefenceTalk

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com

Navigate Site

  • Defence Forum
  • Military Photos
  • RSS Feeds
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com