Everything about Shaheen-ii totally explained
Description
The
Shaheen missile IRBM series (named after a white eagle that lives in the mountains of Pakistan) was developed by
National Defence Complex (NDC), a subsidiary of the
NESCOM which was formed in 1993, under the guidance of Dr.
Samar Mubarakmand.
Background: Indian threat
Since the early 1990s, Pakistan has faced the threat of ballistic missile attacks from India, against which it has fought several wars in the past. With the heightening of tensions in the region between China-India-Pakistan, India started on a weapons development program to build ballistic missiles using the knowledge it gained from its civilian space program. To counter this the Government of Pakistan decided to procure several Chinese M-11 missiles to deter the Indians. In May 1998 India tested nuclear weapons. Two weeks later Pakistan followed suit. With
India and weapons of mass destruction and missile delivery systems, this threat intensified. Both India and Pakistan has also developed and tested missile delivery systems.
In 1999, the
Kargil War between India and Pakistan became the first direct conflict between two declared nuclear powers. Eventhough the war hadn't been openly declared by either side,
Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan at that time in his biography has stated that Pakistan's nuclear assets were brought to a high alert level status.
The
Shaheen-II variant is an Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) which is the longer range variant of
Shaheen-I missile. It uses a two-stage solid propellant motor and is Pakistan's largest and most capable ballistic missile. Shaheen-II was successfully test fired for the first time on March 9, 2004. At that time, National Engineering and Science Commission Chairman Samar Mubarakmand said that the missile was a two-stage rocket weighing 25 tons with a diameter of 1.4 meters and a length of 17.5 meters, and a range of 2,500 kilometers. Shaheen-II missile can carry both conventional and non-conventional payloads.
Shaheen-II is very accurate and has a CEP of 50 m. It is achieved through a post separation booster to provide terminal course correction.
Advance Re-entry vehicle to counter Ballistic Missile Defence Systems
Re-entry vehicle carried by the Shaheen-II missile have a mass of 1050kg. This re-entry vehicle mass of 1050kg carry Nuclear Warhead weight of the re-entry vehicles itself and a terminal guidance (as confirmed by Dr. Samar Mubarakmand in his interview with Hamid Mir on GEO-TV program CAPITAL TALK SPECIAL dated 05-03-2004)which is most probably radar correlation terminal seeker to achieve extremely accurate CEP in range of 30-50m similar to US PERSHING II.This re-entry vehicle unlike that of Shaheen-I doesn't have four moving delta control fins at the rear and small solid/liquid-propellantside thrust motors motors, which can be used to orientate the re-entry vehicle after boost burn out or before reentry to improve the accuracy by providing stabilization during the terminal phase and this can also be used to fly evasive maneuvers, making it immensely problematic to intercept Shaheen-II by any existing anti-ballistic missile defence systems. As Shaheen-II may change its trajectory several times during re-entry and even during the terminal phase, effectively preventing pre-calculated intercept points of radar systems - which is a method nearly all ABM systems using these days.This re-entry vehicle also have GPS updates to further improve its CEP.
Other missiles currently in the service of Pakistan are
Hatf-I (
BRBM),
Abdali-I (
BRBM),
Ghaznavi (
SRBM),
Ghauri-I (
MRBM),
Ghauri-II (
MRBM),
Ghauri-III (
IRBM) (under development),
Shaheen-I (
MRBM),
Babur (
cruise missile) and
Ra'ad (
cruise missile).
| Designation |
Other Name |
Range |
Payload |
Status |
Inventory |
| Hatf-I/IA (BRBM) |
Hatf-I/IA |
80/100 km |
500 kg |
Deployed |
300+ |
| Abdali (SRBM) |
Hatf-II |
180 km |
500 kg |
Deployed, Under production |
200+ |
| Ghaznavi (SRBM) |
Hatf-III |
290 km |
500 kg |
Deployed, Under production |
~400+ |
| Shaheen-I (MRBM) |
Hatf-IV |
750 km |
750 kg |
Deployed, Under production |
~105-350 |
| Ghauri-I (MRBM) |
Hatf-V |
1500 km |
700-1000 kg |
Deployed, Under production |
~100+ |
| Ghauri-II (MRBM) |
Hatf-VA |
2,400 km, More range with lighter payload. |
1200 kg |
Operational, Under production |
~100+ |
| Shaheen-II (IRBM) |
Hatf-VI |
2,500 km, More range with lighter payload. |
1000+ kg |
Deployed, Under production |
30+ |
| Babur (Cruise Missile) |
Hatf-VII |
700 km |
500 kg |
Deployed |
100-1000 |
| Ra'ad (Air Launched Cruise Missile) |
Hatf-VIII |
350 km |
|
Tested |
--- |
| Ghauri-III (IRBM) |
|
3500km+ |
1000+ kg |
Under Development |
|
| Shaheen-III (IRBM) |
|
3500-4500km |
1000+ kg (MIRV) |
Under Development |
|
| M-11 (SRBM) |
|
300 km |
500 kg |
In service |
Unknown |
Total number of boosted nuclear warheads are 150
Note: Not every missile has nuclear payload.
Operator
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