Posted on 05/09/2008 8:05:42 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
(ISLAMABAD, Pakistan) — Pakistan said it test-fired a short-range cruise missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead Thursday, one day after archrival India test-fired a long-range missile with nuclear capability.
The 220-mile-range Pakistani missile, known as the Ra'ad or Hatf VIII, was developed exclusively for launch from aircraft, a military statement said.
The statement did not disclose the launch site but said the missile "has special stealth capabilities," and is a "low altitude, terrain-following missile with high maneuverability."
The missile "can deliver all types of warheads with great accuracy," the military said.
Pakistan became a declared nuclear power in 1998 by conducting nuclear tests in response to those by India. Since then, the South Asian neighbors have both routinely test-fired missiles.
On Wednesday, India test-fired the Agni III, its longest-range missile designed to reach 1,900 miles — putting China's major cities as well some targets deep in the Middle East into range.
India's missile was launched from Wheeler Island off the eastern state of Orissa and is believed to be capable of carrying a 300-kiloton nuclear warhead.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
Their relations have improved since 2004 when they began a peace process aimed at resolving their core dispute over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Only one of our Ohio class SSBN’s can blast both Pakistan and India into huge piles of smoking radioactive ash. The firepower of just one of these boats is 50 times more powerful than both of their nuclear arsenals combined.
At least they have nukes and ignoe their appalling poverty. I was beginning to think they didn’t have their priorities straight.
bump
Would a nuclear Iran really be any worse than a nuclear Pakistan? These guys are nuts.
Supposedly, their weapons are the “gun type”, and are notoriously unreliable. The paki’s sold these to Korea too.
They might not explode or might go very low yield. It’s more a unpredictable threat than a tactical nuke. It would be interesting if they lobbed one and it didn’t go off. It might take awhile before the target figured out what was attempted.
Armchair generals run amok.
Are you aware of China being India's neighbour, and about what they do to countries that are benign? Ask Tibet. They seemed to have followed your clue to the dot, and are suffering magnificently for it.
No kidding me!
Last time there was an Indo-Pakistan war, the Americans were allied with the Pakistanis, and the Indians, the Soviets.
Ask the ones aboard the USS Enterprise why they entered the Bay of Bengal and fled promptly. HINT: Soviet nuclear retaliation.
This was before India had any nukes, by the way, and people wonder why India sided the Soviets then.
They would only be worse because they would not be "neutralized" out of the box, as Pakistan was by India. The major intended use of an Iranian nuclear arsenal would be extortion, and it seems as if they will be gaining that arsenal, and then the extortion will commence...
the infowarrior
If things were so simple that they could be decided by the firepower of a single Ohio class boat, the folks in Iran,North Korea and elsewhere would have been far better behaved today.
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