Pakistan test-fires new nuclear-capable stealth cruise missile

Asia-Pacific, News February 2, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

Pakistan has successfully test-fired a new indigenous nuclear-capable air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) with a range of 350 kilometers (nearly 220 miles).

According to a statement released by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Ra’ad (Thunder) missile blasted off on Monday, and would enable Pakistan to achieve “strategic standoff capability” both on land and at sea.

Cruise technology is extremely complex and has been developed by only a few countries in the world, the statement said.

The state-of-the-art Ra’ad cruise missile with stealth capabilities is a low altitude, terrain hugging missile with high maneuverability, and can deliver nuclear and conventional warheads with pinpoint accuracy, it added.

Ra’ad is designed to attack fixed enemy installations such as radar posts, command nodes and stationary surface-to-air missile launchers at stand-off range, keeping the launching aircraft away from enemy air defense systems.

The Director General of Strategic Plans Division, Lt.Gen. Zubair Mahmood Hayat congratulated the scientists and engineers on this achievement and termed the milestone as a major step towards strengthening Pakistan’s full spectrum credible minimum deterrence capability.

Pakistan’s strategic pursuits were aimed at achieving strategic stability in the region, he said.

The successful launch has been commended by Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who have congratulated the scientists and engineers on their outstanding achievement.

The test-fire comes just two days after India launched Agni-V (Fire-V) missile from a truck-mounted canister at Wheeler Island in the Bay of Bengal, off India’s eastern coast, on January 31.

Agni-V is India’s longest-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile with the capacity to strike China and Europe and mounted on a truck that gives it a greater mobility.

Also Read: India tests its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile