ISLAMABAD — Pakistan on Tuesday carried out a successful test of its latestRa’ad-II air launched cruise missilelink(ALCM),with a new range of 600 kilometers.
According to the military’s ISPR media branch, the homegrown Ra’ad-II“significantly enhances air delivered strategic standoff capability on landand at sea.” The weapon features enhanced guidance and navigation systems“ensuring engagement of targets with high precision.”
When first unveiled in mockup form in 2017 during Pakistan’s annual March23 paradelink,the Ra’ad-II had a stated range of 550 kilometers. Slight changes to theintake design led to speculation that the extra range has been achieved dueto a more advanced engine than that used in the Ra’ad-I, which has a rangeof 350 kilometers.
That speculation may have been correct. Though the footage from Tuesday’stest was deliberately low resolution, the rear of the Ra’ad-II appears tohave been entirely redesigned with a new intake and control surfaces.
The Ra’ad-I had what may be described a large “twin tail,” whereas theRa’ad-II appears to have adopted a more compact “X” configuration layoutcommon with similar missiles in service elsewhere. That change should aidin its carriage on a wider range of platforms, perhaps even internally ifPakistan’s fifth-generation fighter programlink,Project Azm, bears fruit and features an internal weapons bay.
To date the Ra’ad missiles have only been seen carried by Mirage-III strikefighters, which have a wide track undercarriage.
The range increase should allow critical targets within India to beattacked from well within Pakistan’s territory — New Delhi is roughly 430kilometers from Lahore, for instance. That need has taken on a greaterimportance due to India’s air defense modernization efforts throughacquisition of systems such as the Russian S-400.Sign up for our Early Bird BriefGet the defense industry’s most comprehensive news and information straightto your inboxSubscribe
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Washington also recently cleared the Integrated Air Defense System for saleto India.
Mansoor Ahmed, Senior Fellow at the Center for International StrategicStudies Islamabad, who specializes in Pakistan’s nuclear program and itsdelivery platforms, believes the Ra’ad-II is “Pakistan’s answer to India’sdevelopment of the Nirbhay cruise missile.”
He believes Ra’ad-II “will significantly enhance the operational andtargeting flexibility of the air leg of Pakistan’s strategic forces.”
“It gives enhanced capability for precision strikes against criticalmilitary targets on land and at sea from safer standoff ranges. With itsextended range, hitherto invulnerable sites, forces and assets can now betaken out with greater precision that were previously only covered byPakistan’s ballistic missiles,” he said. – Defence News
BY: Usman Ansari
