The U.S. assessment of Pakistan, has been
greatly upgraded. A U.S. official stated that Pakistani
air and missile delivery systems are now believed to be
“fully capable of a nuclear exchange if something
happens.” Other officials noted that Pakistan’s
air force, with its U.S. F-16’s and its French Mirage
fighter-bombers, are superior at penetrating enemy airspace
than India’s Soviet-designed MiGs and Sukhois. Its
is also being said that due to far superior operational
readiness maintained by Pakistan Air Force, they can penetrate
Indian lines of defense at least 700 to 825 mile with
in first 25 minutes of full scale conflict. They can deliver
nuclear devices within these 25 minutes.
Most importantly, Pakistan is now thought
to possess about 42 nuclear-capable missiles ready to
launch within 7 to 10 minutes, the Chinese M-11 short-range
missile. Pakistan's Gauri I & II provides clear edge
over India. At the same time Pakistan's Saheen I missile
creates more problems for India because it is one of its
own kind in world and considered as one of the top most
missile systems around. But the real cause of concern
is Gauri III (The reports say that Ghauri-III is capable
of carrying an 800 kg warhead) & Saheen II. As about
Shaheen-II Islamabad claims it has a range of 2,400 km,
it is capable of carrying a 1,000 kg warhead and has a
solid propellant, there are unconfirmed reports that these
are laser guided cruse missiles,
(Pakistan has raised an artillery unit
in Rawalpindi to handle its latest long-range ballistic
missile -- Ghauri-III -- and has given another unit the
responsibility for the M-11 missiles it acquired from
China, according to reports reaching here.
Both these missiles are nuclear-capable
and Islamabad claims that Ghauri-III has a range of 2,500
to 3,000 km, which covers even a faraway Indian city like
Bangalore, the reports say.)
This creates a big question mark on Indian
defense experts that what to do about this. Third line
of defense is Pakistan Navy which has acquired French
Augusta 90B submarines. These are considered state of
the art in delivering nuclear tipped missiles. Which creates
are major concern for defense experts in India.
The experts say that though India could
be a massive nuclear power, Pakistan's delivery systems
and the "tested" nuclear weapon carrying capabilities
of its missiles place that country in better position
that India.
