Pakistan is preparing to test a third class of ballistic missile, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead further than anything else in its arsenal, according to a Pakistani news report.
Two missile tests by Pakistan over the weekend have added to fears that the conflict between Pakistan and India over the disputed region of Kashmir could escalate into nuclear war.
The Pakistan News Service reports that a launch site has been prepared in the village of Mankera, in the Punjab province, for the purpose of testing a Shaheen missile with a range of 2900 km (1800 miles).
The report says this test may take place on Tuesday in the presence of high-ranking Pakistan military officers. The missiles have been described as “indigenously developed”.
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Pakistan tested a Ghazinavi missile, capable of travelling 290 km (180 miles), on Sunday. A Ghauri missile, with a range of 1600 km (1000 miles), was tested on Saturday.
All of Pakistan’s missiles are relatively new. The Ghazinavi class had never been tested in flight before and the Ghauri had undergone just two previous test flights. The three missile classes give Pakistan the ability to deliver warheads to virtually any part of India.
Pakistan says the tests were planned before the situation in Kashmir worsened but India says they are a deliberate act of aggression. US president George Bush, Russian president Vladamir Putin and others have called on Pakistan to halt the tests and urged both powers to hold peace talks.
In a television address on Monday Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said that Pakistan would not start a full-scale war with India.
Fall out
However one expert contacted by New Scientist says India and Pakistan are more likely to deploy non-nuclear weapons if the border conflict escalated to full-scale war, as it has done twice in the last 55 years.
“I don’t believe they would use nuclear warheads,” says Duncan Lennox, editor of Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems. “Ballistic missiles would probably be used against cities with high explosive warheads.”
Lennox adds: “They are so close to each other that the radioactive fallout could well fall back on top of them. I’m quite convinced they have enough understanding of the after-effects not to want to use them.”
