When were rockets and missiles first used in the subcontinent?
The first use of rockets in the subcontinent predates the establishment of the British Raj. Tipu Sultan used rockets in the battle of Guntur in 1780 and the battle of Seringapatam in 1792 against the British forces.
Remarkably, two of the rockets fired by Indian troops in 1792 are on display at the Royal Artillery Museum in London.
India's modern missile program started in the late 1950s with the development of anti-tank missiles.
The Indian missile program, which initially started with technology gathering and reverse engineering, subsequently matured into the competence to build full-fledged series of operational missiles when India successfully tested and deployed the Prithvi and Agni ballistic missiles and the BrahMos cruise missile.
India is also developing an anti-tactical ballistic missile (ATBM) system.
What has been Pakistan's reaction to India's missile program?
While India continues to build its arsenal keeping in mind regional and extra-territorial security concerns like narrowing the gap with China and keeping a check on Pakistan, Pakistan's military programme is almost solely based on increasing its reach to the farthest Indian points.
The reasons for Pakistan's increased investment in solid motor and liquid engine ballistic missiles are anyone's guess.
Most of their nuclear capable missile projects like the Babur (Hatf VII), and the Ra'ad (Hatf VIII) are about increasing their payload and offering them a greater combat radius to act as a deterrent to India.
With Chinese and North Korean assistance, Pakistan's research centres like the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) are actively pursuing programs to develop medium-range ballistic missiles.
This also signals the Pakistani military's attempts to diversify suppliers in the face of US efforts to restrict the international trade in WMD-capable ballistic and cruise missile technologies. Many analysts believe Pakistan is very close to if not already capable of mounting nuclear warheads on its current ballistic missile fleet.
Pakistan has also gone ahead with tests of some cruise missiles and now ballistic and cruise missiles form the mainstay of its nuclear arsenal
Which are the main missiles in India's arsenal?
India indigenously developed the Agni and Prithvi Series of ballistic missiles and the Brahmos Cruise missile with Russian collaboration.
Prithvi is a series of short-range ballistic missiles, which has three versions. Prithvi-1 is the army version with a range of 150 km; Prithvi II is the air force version and Prithvi III the naval version of the missile ranging up to 250 and 750 km respectively.
India has also developed Dhanus, a naval version of Prithvi. Agni is an advanced missile system that includes a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) like Agni-I (700-800 km), a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) Agni-II (up to 2500 km), the intermediate-range ballistic missile Agni-III (3500-5000 km) and the still under development Agni-IV which is an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) ranging over 6000 km.
India also has the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile ranging up to 290 km and is developing Nirbhay, a subsonic cruise missile with a 1000 km range. India has also developed Akash, which is a medium range surface-to-air missile and Nag, which is a 4-7 km ranging anti-tank missile based on fire-and-forget technology.
What missiles does Pakistan have?
The first indigenous ballistic missile developed by Pakistan was Hatf-1, which was developed in 1989. Ranging between 60 and 80 km it was capable of carrying a 500 kg payload.
It was modified to Hatf-1A with a 100 km range and later Hatf-2 also known as Shadoz and Abdali, which have a throw-weight of 500 kg and range between 290 and 300 km. However, it is unclear if the missiles have been modified for nuclear delivery.
With the help of Chinese technology for M-11 missiles, Pakistan developed Hatf-III (Ghaznavi) missiles in 1995-96. This missile with a 280 km range can carry a throw-weight of 800 kg. After Ghaznavi, Pakistan developed Hatf-IV (also known as Shaheen-I and M-9). This 800 km ranging nuclear capable missile is allegedly a result of M-9 technology transfer from China.
Although it was publicly displayed in the 1999 National Day parade, subsequent testing has been reported in April 1999, October 2002, and October 2003. Similarly Hatf-VI, which is also known as Shaheen-II and M-18 are nuclear capable ballistic missiles ranging between 700-2500 km being developed with Chinese help. Pakistan has also got North Korean assistance in building Hatf-V (Ghauri-I/Nodong) missiles.
The Nodong's range and throw-weight has been variously estimated between 800-1,500 km and 700-1,300 kg, respectively. The Nodong is nuclear capable and can also deliver high-explosive conventional warheads. Pakistan is developing longer-range (2,000-3,500) km versions of the Ghauri-I, Ghauri-II and Ghauri-III, but details of the programs are not known.
