Pakistan test-fires nuclear-capable ballistic missile
Pakistan has successfully test-fired a new indigenously-developed nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a range of 2,750 kilometers (1,708 miles).
According to a statement released by the Pakistani Army’s Directorate of Inter-Services Public Relations, the Monday test launch of solid-fueled surface-to-surface Shaheen-III (Falcon-III) missile, with its impact point in the Arabian Sea, was “aimed at validating various design and technical parameters of the weapon system at maximum range.”
Director General for Pakistan’s Strategic Plan Division Lieutenant General Zubair Mahmood Hayat hailed the missile launch as a major step toward upgrading the country’s deterrence capability.
The test-fire comes less than a week after the first high-level talks between Islamabad and its arch-rival, New Delhi, in nearly a year.
On January 31, India test-fired its longest-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile with the capacity to strike China and Europe.
The three-stage and solid propellant Agni-V (Fire-V) missile (shown above) was launched from a truck-mounted canister at Wheeler Island in the Bay of Bengal, off India’s eastern coast.
The 17-meter-long intercontinental ballistic missile has a range of more than 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles).
Both neighbors have refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other international regulatory pacts that restrict developing or testing nuclear weapons.
India considers the NPT as discriminatory, while Pakistan has indicated that it will not join the international treaty until its neighbor does so.
MP/HJL/SS
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