Posted on 03/18/2005 10:11:25 PM PST by NormsRevenge
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan successfully test-fired its longest-range, nuclear-capable missile Saturday.
The test comes two days after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Pakistan to encourage its peace process with neighboring India. There was no immediate reaction from New Delhi.
The Shaheen II missile has a range of 1,250 miles and it successfully hit the target, said Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, a spokesman for the Pakistan army.
He did not say where the test was conducted.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf witnessed the test and congratulated the missile's developers, the military said in a statement.
"This missile which incorporates an advanced two-stage solid motor technology, can carry all types of conventional and nuclear warheads," the statement said.
South Asia's nuclear rivals Pakistan and India routinely test-fire their missiles.
What the article doesn't mention is that both Pakistan and India routinely launch test missiles that malfunction, fall back on their launchers, explode on takeoff, or otherwise fail to work. They've come a long way, though...

umm,not a lot of Indian missile tests have failed.Pakistani missile tests never fail as those missiles are thoroughly tested by the Chinese & North Koreans b4 the Pakis apply green paint to it.
Let's admit the fact-the Pakis are far better than the Indians in giving paintjobs to their missiles.In less than 15 years,they have "built" * inducted more ballistic missiles than either Russia or the US.
I meant their native-built stuff. Imports don't count.
India's Agni & Prithvi are homebuilt.They haven't had a failure in ages & both are being inducted.
The only Indian missile that has foreign collaboration is the PJ-10 Brahmos supersonic cruise missile which is a reworked version of the Russian SSN-26 Yakhont.That weapon has had no failure in about 10 test launches-from sea/land & against naval & land based targets.1 Indian programme which didn't do well was the Trishul point-defence SAM-but that had more to do with the military's requirements rather than problems with the weapon itself.
Pakistan doesn't have anything that can be designated as home built.The Chinese M-11s have been repainted into the 'Hatf' series & the North Korean Ding-Dongs got a facelift to become the Ghauri/Shaheen family.
I type corrected, then. Who is it that keeps having all the recent missile failures? (And I'm not talking about the US GBI problems.)
Looks like Rice completely failed in her mission, the test firing right after she leaves is a one finger salute to the USA. But then, what does Bush expect, sending a woman to negotiate is a direct insult in Islam. If you start off negotiations with a one finger salute, you can expect that in return. Condi is a complete disaster as a diplomatic choice. A disaster there is no excuse for in diplomacy. Hard to believe anyone can be so naive in politics, especially at the Presidential level.
Everyone!!!The US has had plenty of problems with it's NMD kill vehicles,Russia with it's aging SLBMs,India with it's trishuls.....
Solid fuel motors offer significant advantages over liquid fueled motors in a weapon system, the most important being reduced maintenance and increased availability. fas.org might offer a break-down. The draw back to solid fuel motors are that they are much harder to manufacture and control.
Solid fuel motors put you in the major leagues, IMHO.
Are you sure you're talking about missiles???Brazil,Japan & Israel have all had failed rocket launches in recent years.
I knew India was one of them. Guess Russia was the other one.
Yes, missiles, not space-intended rockets. I know about the rocket failures.
Yep,solidfuel is very important as far as Pakiland is concerned given their lack of strategic dept & dependence on the need for a first strike.& I haven't even come to the bestpart-they didn't need to spend a penny(oops paisa!!) to develop the technology themselves.
FAS.ORG http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/pakistan/missile/hatf-3.htm has Chinese M-11 solid fuel missile and Shaheen listed as the same system.
That's true-No one really don't have much of a clue about the exact names or origins of the various missiles they have.There are systems called the Ghauri,Ghaznavi & Abdali which have different ranges on different days!!
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