ISLAMABAD – Sonmiani Firing Range’s instrumented Weapon Testing Range(WTR), which was established in collaboration with China on 2nd February2018, has been a useful induction for not just the Pakistan Air Force, butfor Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy for testing, evaluating and certifyingadvanced munitions.
Pakistan’s first instrumented WTR capable of real-time tracking has alreadyconducted successful test-firing of SD-10 beyond-visual-range (BVR)air-to-air missile (AAM) and a PL-5EII within-visual-range (WVR) AAM fromPAF’s JF-17 Thunder.——————————
It will go a long way in the indigenous development and procurement ofmunitions and their tactical and strategic testing. The firing range hasbeen used by SUPARCO, Strategic Plans Division (SPD), the Army, Navy andAir Force regularly for testing their inventories. It has alreadyaccomplished the test-firing of a number of tactical weapons includingmissiles and rockets including:
– Rehbar-I sounding rocket by SUPARCO – Medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM) including Shaheen II – Land-attack cruise missiles (LACM) such as the Babur-3 submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) – Harba dual-anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM)/LACM
The location of Sonmiani Firing Range gives Pakistan the advantage to useit for Navy, Air Force and Army’s test missions alike. It is located alongthe Arabian Sea adjoining a deserted area offering Pakistan Navy an easyoption to test its arsenal while the desert environment is suitable forland warfare missions of Pakistan Army.——————————
According to Quwa Defence News and Analysis Grouplink,a WTR must be equipped with the following:
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– Optical-tracking systems – Telemetry systems – Radars – Meteorological station – Command, control and communication station
The extensive testing purposes served by the firing range indicatescomprehensive instrumentation set and that it can be compared with SouthAfrica’s Overberg Test Range, the defense analysis group wrote in itsoverview of the facility.
Since details of WTR’s capabilities haven’t been made public by the PAF,these can be along the lines of those employed by the Overberg Range, whichincludes:
– Tracking five flying objects simultaneously – Validating anti-radiation missile’s (ARM) effective range – Tracking missiles and weaponry such as: – Air-to-surface missile (ASM) – Surface-to-air missile (SAM) – Surface-to-surface missile (SSM) – Anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) – Artillery shell tests
