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To: casino66
This is beginning to look real nasty and may drag us in a different direction. If AQ were to take over in Pakistan, it would have dire consequences for our mission in the ME.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates that Pakistan has built 24-48 HEU-based nuclear warheads with HEU reserves for 30-52 additional warheads.[8][9] The US Navy Center for Contemporary Conflict estimates that Pakistan possesses between a low of 35 and a high of 95 nuclear warheads, with a median of 60.[10]

The NRDC's and the Carnegie Foundation's estimates of approximately 50 weapons are from 2002-3 estimations. In 2000, US Military intelligence estimated that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal may be as large as 100 warheads.[11]. The actual size is hard for experts to gauge owing to the secrecy which surrounds the program in Pakistan.

Pakistan's nuclear warheads are based on an implosion design that uses a solid core of highly enriched Uranium and requires an estimated 15-20 kg of material per warhead. The NRDC also thinks that Pakistan has also produced a small but unknown quantity of weapons-grade Plutonium, which is sufficient for an estimated 3-5 nuclear weapons per annum based on the estimation of 5 kg of Plutonium per warhead. Pakistan also claims that the fissile cores are stored separately from the other non-nuclear explosive packages which, as the Government of Pakistan states, can be put together rather quickly.

17 posted on 11/03/2007 12:01:37 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Fitzcarraldo

My question would be; how many do they have the capability to deliver?


29 posted on 11/03/2007 12:57:25 PM PDT by metesky ("Brethren, leave us go amongst them." Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond- The Searchers)
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