Hatf-3 / Shaheen-I

This missile project is managed by the National Defence Complex (NDC), a subsidiary of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) which was formed in 1993. The Shaheen missile program was initiated in 1995 and assigned to the NDC. The Shaheen project used the resources that were available within the various other institutions in Pakistan, supplemented with infrastructure created at the National Development Complex for capabilities which were not available elsewhere in Pakistan. The facilities of SUPARCO were utilized in the Shaheen project, along with the facilities of industry in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat and other cities. Missile components from these various facilities were brought to the NDC for final integration.

On August 25, 1996, R. Jeffrey Smith of The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence officials were concerned that a partially completed factory in the suburbs of Rawalpindi would be ready in a year or two to produce "precise duplicates" of the M-11. The National Intelligence Estimate, said to the basis for the report, also stated that Pakistan may have developed nuclear warheads for the M-11, according to Smith.

The public record does not disclose a consistent basis for application of the "Hatf-3" nomenclature to a specific missile system. On 03 July 1997 Pakistan conducted a missile test that unofficial press reports claimed was an 800-km range Hatf-3 missile [the nomenclature associated with this test was never offially confirmed]. The test followed an uproar in Pakistan over the alleged deployment of 250-kilometre range Prithvi (Earth) missiles by rival India on Pakistan's border. While Indian sources asserted that the missile was a Chinese M-9, US analysts concluded that the missile was most likely an improved M-11. Very little additional information is available on this alleged launch.

The Indian Test of the Agni II IRBM was conducted 11 April 1999. Pakistan responded on 14 Apr 1999 with a test firing of its Ghauri II missile from the Jhelum region in northeast Pakistan. Dr. Samar Mubarik Mand, in charge of the Shaheen project, on 15 April 1999, a successful test of Shaheen was conducted. Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission said it tested a single stage IRBM called the Shaheen for the first time. Said to have a range of 750 km., it was fired from Sonmiani, a coastal site near Karachi. Officials said the missile can carry a 1 metric ton payload.

The 15 April 1999 test marked the debut of the "Shaheen" [a royal white falcon] The claimed 750 km range of the Shaheen is roughly double the standard range of the Hatf-3, and is consistent with the range of the much large Chinese M-9.     The two "Shaheen" missiles displayed in the military parade were apparently the improved longer-range CSS-7 Mod 2, rather than the original Mod 1.

 

 

• Voice of America 15 April 1999 -- PAKISTAN SAYS THE PREVIOUSLY-UNTESTED SHAHEEN MISSILE SUCCESSFULLY SOARED TO A TARGET IN THE ARABIAN SEA, FROM A BASE ON PAKISTAN'S SOUTHERN COAST.