Posted on 09/24/2017 2:50:14 PM PDT by Jyotishi
HIGHLIGHTS
o The short-range weapons meant to be used early in a conventional conflict with India are at a risk of landing up with terrorists.
o According to the report, Pakistan has stored its nuclear forces at nine different locations across the country.
o The report adds that Pakistan has a rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal of 130-140 warheads.
o Pakistani military personnel stand beside a Shaheen III surface-to-surface ballistic missile. (Representative image/Reuters)
NEW DELHI: Pakistan PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi last week yet again flaunted+ his country's tactical or nonstrategic nuclear weapons, saying they were meant to deter the Indian Army's 'cold start' doctrine.
While Abbasi declared that Pakistan's nuclear assets, including the tactical nukes, were under a robust command-and-control system, the short-range weapons meant to be used early in a conventional conflict with India are vulnerable to accidents and risk of landing up with terrorists.
According to a recent report by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), Pakistan has stored its nuclear forces at nine different locations across the country.
Renowned US nuclear weapon expert and co-author of the report Hans Kristensen said Pakistan's nuclear warheads may be located in storage facilities near the bases the report identifies, and that these bases themselves appear to house nuclear-capable launchers that would use those warheads.
The report describes the launcher bases to give readers an impression of the extent to which Pakistan's nuclear forces are being dispersed across the country.
Kristensen told TOI that because Pakistan was building a short-range sub-strategic nuclear arsenal (in addition to its longer-range force), the warheads would likely be distributed to regional storage sites from which they could be assembled and transported to the launcher bases.
"Since the shorter-range systems are intended to be used earlier in a conflict below the strategic level, weapons for these systems would likely be distributed early in a crisis and raise the risk of accident and incidents. If used against conventional attacks, use of the tactical nuclear weapons would likely lead to escalation to a wider nuclear war quickly," said Kristensen.
A Trump administration official was quoted last month as saying that the US was particularly concerned by the development of tactical nuclear weapons that were designed for use in the battlefield, and that Washington believed these systems were more susceptible to terrorist theft and increased the likelihood of nuclear exchange in the region.
The report by Kristensen and Robert Norris also says that Pakistan has a rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal of 130-140 warheads and an increasing portfolio of delivery systems.
The report says Islamabad is quantitatively and qualitatively strengthening its arsenal and deploying weapons at more sites and yet the locations are difficult to pinpoint.
"For example, no reliable public information exists on where Pakistan produces or stores its nuclear weapons. Thus, we have used commercial satellite images, expert studies, and local news reports and articles to make the assumption that nuclear weapons are likely to be at, or near, wherever nuclear-capable weapon systems are deployed," it says.
Yes it is.
I believe China was the big friend of Pakistan when they developed their program too.
Between Russia and China, it’s hard to tell which is the most ignorant about the ramifications of arming rogue states.
I will say that Pakistan has been less rogue over the years, but it’s still a very troublesome situation, even with the government maintaining control. In addition especially with the Taliban such a threat.
They aren’t ignorant. The technology is being sold by powerful people for their own interests. The interest of their nation is irrelevant. These people are rich enough time go where they will be safe, regardless of what happens to their country.
Pak a radical muzzies get ahold of one of these things...not gonna be pretty.
Mueller of the DOJ gave them uranium to murder Americans.
Where the hell is the investigation of HIM?
India should be given the go-ahead to nuke them then.
THIS is what the idiot chimp GW Bush SHOULD have made his #1 target, instead of making the criminal Musharraf his new BFF. We should have sent troops to Pakistan, not Afghanistan.
Same here sadly.
I do think the governments sign off on it. Officials may be getting money too.
I wasn’t aware he was mixed up in that also.
Yikes.
140 moozlems in INDIA.
that’s 140 million.
I thought there were a lot more than that.
It was my take that for years that population segment had helped Pakistan carry out terrorism there.
At very least, I thought they conducted it to Pakistan’s advantage.
It stated in some books and reports that the Saudis had a very big part in the Pakistani nuclear program.
It is the Pak military who controls the nukes, not the government..
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