https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/22/595967125/china-acknowledges-sale-of-advanced-missile-technology-to-pakistan
China Acknowledges Sale Of Advanced Missile Technology To Pakistan
March 22, 20185:49 AM ET
SCOTT NEUMAN
Pakistan test fires its new Ababeel surface-to-surface ballistic missile in Pakistan on Jan. 24, 2017. Ababeel has a maximum range of 1,350 miles and is capable of delivering multiple warheads using multiple independent re-entry vehicle technology, according to Pakistani sources.
Updated at 6:40 a.m. ET
China has sold Pakistan an advanced tracking system that could boost Islamabad’s efforts to improve ballistic missiles capable of delivering multiple warheads, according to The South China Morning Post.
The website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the deal with Pakistan, and Zheng Mengwei, a researcher with the CAS Institute of Optics and Electronics, confirmed to the Post that the purchase was of a “highly sophisticated large-scale optical tracking and measurement system.”
The newspaper writes:
“An optical system is a critical component in missile testing. It usually comes with a pair of high-performance telescopes equipped with a laser ranger, high-speed camera, infrared detector and a centralized computer system that automatically captures and follows moving targets.
The device records high-resolution images of a missile’s departure from its launcher, stage separation, tail flame and, after the missile re-enters atmosphere, the trajectory of the warheads it releases.”
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The CAS said a Chinese team spent three months in Pakistan helping calibrate the system. “The system’s performance surpassed the user’s expectations,” it said, adding that it was considerably more complex than Pakistan’s home-made systems, the newspaper said.
Although ostensibly for missile testing, it is similar to technology deployed in ballistic missile defense systems.
Rival India has been working on a missile defense system, which it claims to have successfully tested late last year. Meanwhile, Pakistan has concentrated on a possible countermeasure. In January 2017, it tested a missile that reportedly can deliver multiple warheads, known as MIRVs, which can greatly increase the number of incoming targets, possibly overwhelming missile defense systems.
Pakistan, after its first successful launch of the MIRV-capable missile, known as Ababeel, said in a statement that it is “aimed at ensuring survivability of Pakistan’s ballistic missiles in the growing regional Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) environment.”
India and Pakistan have been locked in a nuclear arms race since the two countries openly conducted nuclear weapons tests within days of one another in May 1998. Since that time, their respective rocket and missile programs have also proceeded swiftly, frequently raising tensions in the South Asian region.
On Thursday, India’s Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the successful launch of a supersonic cruise missile, the Brohmos jointly developed by India and Russia. One version is an anti-ship missile, and the army also has fielded its own variant. India is working on yet another version that could be launched from a Su-30 fighter jet.
China, which also views India as a regional rival, has long been recognized as the covert benefactor of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, providing technical know-how and expertise.
Last year, Pakistan deployed a Chinese-made low-to-medium altitude air defense system (LOMAD).
But the latest public statement by Beijing of a deal with Islamabad for such sensitive technology is rare — and possibly meant as a signal to New Delhi, with whom it has had recent border tensions, and possibly the U.S., which has increasingly tilted toward India in recent decades, especially amid what is viewed as Pakistan’s tepid commitment to shutting down Islamic extremism.
In January, President Trump tweeted that Pakistan had given the U.S. “nothing but lies [and] deceit” in exchange for billions of dollars in foreign aid.
Analysis: Since the People’s Republic of China began providing weapons to Pakistan in 1964/65, both countries have typically kept the transfers covert. Both countries kept a secret of transactions that included missile technology, armored technologies, and other weapons-associated technology transfer. However, this is the very first time that China has disclosed that it has supplied Pakistan with one of an advanced and sophisticated technology. In a March 14 statement, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced that its Institute of Optics and Electronics supplied Pakistan with “a set of four optical tracking measurement systems” capable of carrying out tasks such as automatic tracking, target monitoring, and image recording. On February 4, 2018, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) tested a new mobile instrumented weapon test range at Sonmiani. The test included a PAF JF-17 FGA that fired a Chinese beyond visual range SD-10 missile. The press release associated with the test said the following: “Track the complete trajectory of aircraft and launched missiles…real-time tracking and measuring equipment to qualify the indigenously developed and procured weapon systems.” From the video released by PAF media outlet, it is clear that an optical tracking camera was used. In January 2017, Pakistan tested its very first MIRV equipped ballistic missile, Ababeel, with a stated range of 2,200 Km (1,367 miles). Pakistan’s unstated strategic missile doctrine is to defeat India’s ballistic missile defense (BMD). With the series of short to medium range ballistic missiles in its inventory, Pakistan has long diligently worked towards having a viable missile with MIRV. One of the most critical pieces of equipment required for the testing and verification of a MIRV platform is a tracking system. The Chinese system that Pakistan acquired is unique for its four telescope units. The unit is mobile with two-optical tracking telescope on the vehicle. Each unit has the capacity to capture highly detailed and accurate images from multiple angles. With multiple warheads, the additional telescopes allow the system to more easily track each warhead simultaneously. On March 23, 2017, during the Republic Day military parade, Pakistan’s Shaheen III missile was placed on a new eighteen-wheeler TEL. It was clear that the TEL was oversized for Shaheen III missile but with the advent of Ababeel, visual estimates make it at least eight meters longer than Shaheen III. It would be safe to say that the new TEL is inducted with Abaabeel in mind. Yet another aspect of Ababeel is that its stated range is depressed and that it is above the 2,200 km. The mobile Chinese engineers and technicians completed integration tests over the past three months and provided “training and guidance” to Pakistani personnel, said the CAS, adding that the system “meets or exceeds” the agreed technical requirements “in terms of function, imaging quality, and distance and tracking accuracy”. “It [the system] has been highly praised by Pakistan and has also attracted the attention of relevant Pakistani authorities,” said the CAS, pointing out that the move represents China’s first-ever sale of large-scale optical tracking measurement equipment to the South Asian country. This system will give Pakistan the technology to optical tracking of flight telemetry from launch to impact with its development of multiple re-entry vehicle (MRV) technology. In missile testing, optical systems consist of specialized telescopes equipped with a high-speed camera, infrared detector, laser ranger, and a tracking system that captures and follows targets. With this system, missile designers are able to view high-resolution images from each stage of the missile including launch, separation, re-entry and the release of warheads.