Islamabad: Pakistan successfully conducted Monday the test-fire of a nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile which can strike targets up to 650 kilometres, bringing many Indian cities under its range.
The test-firing of the ‘Shaheen-I’ missile by the Pakistani military took place amidst Indo-Pak tensions over New Delhi revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
According to a press release issued by the media wing of the Pakistani military, the launch of ‘Shaheen-I’ missile was held as part of a training exercise ‘aimed at testing the operational readiness of Army Strategic Forces Command’.
The ‘Shaheen-I’ missile is capable of delivering all types of warheads up to range of 650kms, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) tweeted.
The launch was aimed at testing operational readiness of Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) ensuring Pakistan’s credible minimum deterrence,” it said.
“Troops displayed a high standard of proficiency in handling and operating the potent weapon system, ensuring Pakistan’s credible minimum deterrence,” the ISPR said.
Pakistan successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile ‘Ghaznavi’ with a range of up to 290kms August 29, days after India revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5.
The Indian Air Force followed up by carrying the successful firing of ‘BrahMos’ surface-to-surface missiles from a mobile platform in October to check the IAF’s capability to hit targets with ‘pin-point’ accuracy at close to 300km.
The Pakistani missile test also came days after India conducted the first night trial of ‘Agni-I’. It is a versatile surface-to-surface medium range nuclear-capable missile.
The ‘Agni-II’ missile has a strike range of 2,000km and is an intermediate range ballistic missile. It has already been inducted into the Armed Forces.
PTI