Shaheen 3 Can Reach Deep Inside India & Israel and Boost Pakistan's Space Program

[Riaz Haq]

Pakistan has successfully tested Shaheen III ballistic missile with 1700 mile range. The intermediate range missile can hit deep inside India and Israel. Its multi-stage solid-fuel technology can also be used to launch satellites into space. It has been jointly developed by the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) and the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO). It's the latest example of dual-use technology.

Pakistan Shaheen 3 Missile Range Source: Washington Post

The missile was successfully test-fired into the Arabian Sea on Monday, March 9, 2015, according to the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) which oversees Pakistan’s nuclear program. Announcing the result, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, the head of SPD, congratulated NESCOM (National Engineering and Scientific Commission) scientists and engineers for “achieving yet another milestone of historic significance.”

Shaheen-III is the latest in the series of the indigenously produced Shaheen-I and Shaheen-II, which had shorter ranges. “The test launch was aimed at validating various design and technical parameters of the weapon system at maximum range,” the Pakistani military said in a statement. Pakistani military leaders are trying to maintain a “credible deterrence” as arch-rival India continues to invest heavily in military hardware.

Since the technology used in satellite launch vehicles (SLV) is virtually identical to that used in a ballistic missile, Shaheen 3, the latest enhancement to Shaheen series of missiles, is expected to boost Pakistan's space program as well.  Several nations, including India and Israel recently, have used same rocket motors for  both ballistic missiles and satellite launch vehicles (SLVs).  Israel's Shavit SLV and India's SLV-3 are examples of it.

The success of Shaheen 3 multi-stage solid-fueled ballistic missile is a confirmation of Pakistan's determination to ensure its security AND to pursue its space ambitions at the same time. I congratulate Pakistani engineers and scientists at NESCOM and SUPARCO on their hard work, continuing deep commitment and the latest achievement.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

India's Israel Envy

Pakistan Space Program

Revolution in Military Affairs

Pakistan Defense Production Goes High-Tech

Drones Outrage and Inspire Pakistanis

RMA Status in Pakistan

Cyber Wars in South Asia

Pakistan's Biggest Ever Arms Bazar

Genomics and Biotech Advances in Pakistan

India's Israel Envy: What if Modi Attacks Pakistan

Eating Grass: Pakistan's Nuclear Program

[Riaz Haq]

The Shaheen 1 (Hatf 4) is a Pakistani-Chinese short-range ballistic missile. It can launch a payload of 700 – 1,000 kg to ranges of up to 700 km, and its extended-range variant, the Shaheen 1A, ranges up to 900 km.

https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/hatf-4/

----------------

Fateh-110 Development

Iran began developing the Fateh-110 in 1995. The missile is 8.86 m long, 0.61 m in diameter, and weighs 3,450 kg. It uses a single-stage solid propellant engine and has a range of 210 km (130 miles), although it is possible that Iran could add extra boosters in order to increase its range to 400 km (249 miles). It can carry a payload of some 500 kg and is most likely intended to deliver a high explosive, chemical, or submunitions warhead. The missile is also assumed to be nuclear / WMD capable.

https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/fateh-110/

[Riaz Haq]

#Pakistan tests home-grown cruise missile with longer range.#Nuclear capable #Babur #cruise #missile tested on Tuesday has a range of more than 900 kilometers (560 miles), twice the distance of an earlier version of the same model. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pakistan-tests-home-grown-miss...

Pakistan’s military test-fired a home-grown Babur cruise missile on Tuesday that has a range of more than 900 kilometers (560 miles), twice the distance of an earlier missile of the same model, a statement said.

The missile’s extended range further enhances nuclear-armed Pakistan’s military capability.

Pakistan and neighbor India, which also has a nuclear arsenal, have a volatile relationship, having fought three wars against each other. The military buildup of both countries is closely watched by a nervous international community as India and Pakistan have come dangerously close to a fourth war at least twice over the last two decades.

The missile, dubbed the Babur Cruise Missile 1B, is domestically developed, said the military statement. An earlier version had the limited capacity to travel just 450 kilometers (280 miles).

[Riaz Haq]

Turkish Aerospace, Pakistan to jointly develop satellite projects | Daily Sab


https://www.dailysabah.com/business/defense/turkish-aerospace-pakis...

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) signed a cooperation agreement with Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) on Wednesday to develop space and satellite projects.

Turkish defense giant TAI and SUPARCO will carry out joint studies on electric communication satellites and other space projects within the scope of the agreement.

"We have signed a cooperation deal with the SUPARCO to develop satellite projects. We wish good luck for the two countries,” said TAI in a statement on Twitter.

In Dec. 2019, TAI opened its first office in Pakistan at the country's National Science and Technology Park.

Speaking at the Satellite Technologies Week held in December, TAI CEO Temel Kotil said that they are looking for new customers for the SmallGEO satellite, a telecommunications satellite platform that works with an electric propulsion system.

“It looks like we found a customer, but we don't share it because it has not been finalized. If it does, we will build three more satellites. A fourth customer also showed up. When these are finalized, we will reach five satellites in total,” said Kotil, adding that if TAI made these satellites in three or four years, Turkey would be able to achieve a good figure in satellite exports.

Turkey inked its first satellite export deal with an Argentinian company in August at the International Defense Industries Fair (IDEF) held in Istanbul.

Recently, TAI also signed a memorandum of understanding on space and satellite systems with El Salvador during President Nayib Bukele's Turkey visit last week.

[Riaz Haq]

China To Build #Space Centre, More #Satellites For #Pakistan. #China has provided space product & #technology cooperation, satellite carrying or launching services for many countries like #SaudiArabia, Pakistan,#Argentina, #Brazil, #Canada and #Luxembourg.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/china-to-build-space-centre-more-sa...

--------

Full Text: China's Space Program: A 2021 Perspective


http://www.china.org.cn/china/2022-01/28/content_78016843.htm

"It will give priority to developing communications satellites for Pakistan and to cooperating on the construction of the Pakistan Space Center and Egypt's Space City"

"China has increased the BeiDou system's global service capacity by establishing BeiDou cooperation forum mechanisms with the League of Arab States and the African Union, completing the first overseas BeiDou center in Tunisia, and conducting satellite navigation cooperation with countries such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, South Africa, Algeria, and Thailand"


----------

Together with relevant partners China has developed and successfully launched the China-France Oceanography Satellite, China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 04A, and the Ethiopian Remote-Sensing Satellite. It has launched the Student Small Satellites (SSS) for APSCO. It is jointly developing the MisrSat-2 remote-sensing satellite.

· China completed the in-orbit delivery of the Pakistan Remote-Sensing Satellite (PRSS-1), Venezuelan Remote-Sensing Satellite (VRSS-2), Sudan Remote-Sensing Satellite (SRSS-1), and the Algerian Communications Satellite (Alcomsat-1).

· China has provided satellite carrying or launching services for countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Luxembourg.

· China has conducted space product and technology cooperation with countries including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Argentina, Pakistan, and Nigeria.

· China has helped developing countries boost their space science and research. It has built satellite research and development infrastructure with countries including Egypt, Pakistan and Nigeria. It has pressed ahead with the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative Space Information Corridor, and opened China's space facilities to developing countries.

[Riaz Haq]

China's CNSA To Help Asia’s Oldest Space Agency SUPARCO With Satellites

https://eurasiantimes.com/pakistan-china-asias-oldest-space-agency-...


While Beijing and Islamabad have a space exploration agreement, China has formally confirmed for the first time that it will assist Pakistan in the construction of what is being dubbed the Pakistan Space Centre (PSC). PSC is expected to produce satellites.

According to a white paper, China will “provide priority to producing communications satellites for Pakistan and cooperating on the establishment of the Pakistan Space Centre.”

Islamabad announced plans in 2018 to construct the PSC to spearhead indigenous satellite development and manufacture, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan, a state-owned news agency.

APP said that the PSC will be capable of manufacture, testing, system-level assembly, integration, launch, and operations of numerous types of satellites.

------------

Meet Pakistan's Space Innovator - Bloomberg


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2022-01-26/meet-pakistan-s-sp...

Meet Pakistan's Space Innovator
"We're out to change mindsets and that is not something easy." Meet Zartaj Ahmed. The engineer-turned-educator wants to transform the way STEM is taught in Pakistan through her space science education center. (Source: Bloomberg)

[Riaz Haq]

Turkey close to securing space technology agreements with Pakistan, Azerbaijan
Turkey has expressed intentions to cooperate with Pakistan and Azerbaijan in the field of space technology.

https://www.islamabadscene.com/turkey-to-sign-space-technology-coop...

“Our contracts with Azerbaijan and Pakistan in the field of space activities are ready, we have reached the stage of signing,” Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank was quoted as saying by APA.

The minister said Turkey is at the signing stage of agreements with space agencies of Pakistan and Azerbaijan to improve collaboration in the use of space for civilian purposes which requires international cooperation.

Meanwhile, on February 9, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the country’s ambitious 10-year national space program which includes sending Turkish astronauts into space, developing a new generation of satellites, building a spaceport, and reaching the Moon by 2023 which is the primary and most important mission of the program. In January 2021, SpaceX launched a Turkish communications satellite into orbit.

Pakistan, Turkey and Azerbaijan recently entered into a new phase of a strategic partnership with the visits of Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov to Islamabad last month.

The three friendly countries announced to improve collaboration in political, strategic, economic, security, science, and technology fields. The collaboration in space technology will take the partnership to a new level as the future of space will be marked by collaboration.

Pakistan launched its first communications satellite PAKSAT-1R in August 2011 that marked the defining moment in the country’s space program. In 2018, Pakistan launched a remote-sensing (PRSS-1) satellite and a technology evaluation satellite (PakTES-1A) after SUPARCO and the China Great Wall Industrial Cooperation signed a space cooperation agreement.

In 2014, Pakistan became the first foreign country to shift to the China-based GPS system called BeiDou which reduces dependency on Global Positioning System (GPS) by the United States in both civil and military sectors.

Collaboration with China and now Turkey will greatly benefit Pakistan to meet the goals of Pakistan’s Space Program 2047 and the country’s future scientific requirements.

[Riaz Haq]

How the algorithm tipped the balance in Ukraine

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/19/palantir-algorithm-data-ukraine-war/

Vast data battlefield
The “kill chain” that I saw demonstrated in Kyiv is replicated on a vast scale by Ukraine’s NATO partners from a command post outside the country. The system is built around the same software platform developed by Palantir that I saw in Kyiv, which can allow the United States and its allies to share information from diverse sources — ranging from commercial satellite imagery to the West’s most secret intelligence tools.

This is algorithmic warfare, as Karp says. Using a digital model of the battlefield, commanders can penetrate the notorious “fog of war.” By applying artificial intelligence to analyze sensor data, NATO advisers outside Ukraine can quickly answer the essential questions of combat: Where are allied forces? Where is the enemy? Which weapons will be most effective against enemy positions? They can then deliver precise enemy location information to Ukrainian commanders in the field. And after action, they can assess whether their intelligence was accurate and update the system.

Data powers this new engine of war — and the system is constantly updating. With each kinetic strike, the battle damage assessments are fed back into the digital network to strengthen the predictive models. It’s not an automated battlefield, and it still has layers and stovepipes. The system I saw in Kyiv uses a limited array of sensors and AI tools, some developed by Ukraine, partly because of classification limits. The bigger, outside system can process highly classified data securely, with cyber protections and restricted access, then feed enemy location data to Ukraine for action.

To envision how this works in practice, think about Ukraine’s recent success recapturing Kherson, on the Black Sea coast. The Ukrainians had precise intelligence about where the Russian were moving and the ability to strike with accurate long-range fire. This was possible because they had intelligence about the enemy’s location, processed by NATO from outside the country and then sent to commanders on the ground. Armed with that information, the Ukrainians could take the offensive — moving, communicating and adjusting quickly to Russian defensive maneuvers and counterattacks.

And when Ukrainian forces hit Russian command nodes or supply depots, it’s a near certainty that they have received enemy location data this way. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, told me that this electronic kill chain was “especially useful during the liberation of Kherson, Izium, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions.”

What makes this system truly revolutionary is that it aggregates data from commercial vendors. Using a Palantir tool called MetaConstellation, Ukraine and its allies can see what commercial data is currently available about a given battle space. The available data includes a surprisingly wide array, from traditional optical pictures to synthetic aperture radar that can see through clouds, to thermal images that can detect artillery or missile fire.

To check out the range of available data, just visit the internet. Companies selling optical and synthetic aperture radar imagery include Maxar, Airbus, ICEYE and Capella. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sells simple thermal imaging meant to detect fires but that can also register artillery explosions.

In our Kherson example, Palantir assesses that roughly 40 commercial satellites will pass over the area in a 24-hour period. Palantir normally uses fewer than a dozen commercial satellite vendors, but it can expand that range to draw imagery from a total of 306 commercial satellites that can focus to 3.3 meters. Soldiers in battle can use handheld tablets to request more coverage if they need it. According to a British official, Western military and intelligence services work closely with Ukrainians on the ground to facilitate this sharing of information.

[Riaz Haq]

The Military Rockets that Launched the Space Age

https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/military-rockets-launc...


Rockets launched the Space Age. They provided the power needed to take spacecraft and people on flights beyond the Earth. Starting with the launch of the first satellite Sputnik in 1957 and continuing through today, countries and companies around the globe have built a variety of rockets to travel into space for science, defense, commerce, and tourism.

Early rocket technology for spaceflight from the mid-1940s into the 1960s developed alongside—and in many cases because of—military applications for missiles. In the early Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union began building rockets to use as long-range weapons. But this race to build missiles for defense soon turned into a race to build rockets for space exploration. The same rocket that could carry a nuclear warhead could (and sometimes did) also launch spacecraft into orbit. This intense investment in engineering for missiles and rockets sparked off the Space Race.

----------

on October 4, 1957, a Soviet ICBM launched the satellite Sputnik and the Space Age. This event startled the world, giving the impression that America was behind the Soviets in science and technology. Subsequent U.S. launch failures heightened that perception. What began as a competition to build new rockets for defense and militaristic purposes now also became a competition to reach space.

After Sputnik's success, the explosion of Vanguard on its launch pad on December 6, 1957 drew further attention to the Soviet lead in space. America's first success in space came on January 31, 1958, when Explorer 1 was launched aboard an Army Jupiter-C, which was a modified Redstone ballistic missile. In February a second U.S. attempt to launch a Vanguard satellite failed. The American media and Congress demanded to know how the Soviets had beaten the United States into space. One response by the Eisenhower administration and Congress was to establish the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

[Riaz Haq]

Pakistan has launched six satellites, including the Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS). Pakistan has non-kinetic anti-satellite options, including: Jamming, Spoofing, Meaconing, Laser, High-powered microwave attacks.

https://cscr.pk/explore/themes/defense-security/non-kinetic-anti-sa...'s%20potential%20offensive.


Anti-satellite weapons (ASATs) can be kinetic or non-kinetic. Kinetic ASATs physically crash into satellites. Non-kinetic ASATs use non-physical attacks, such as cyber-attacks, jamming, and blinding satellites with lasers

https://www.space.com/anti-satellite-weapons-asats

No ASAT system has been used in warfare. However, some countries, including China, India, Russia, and the United States, have shot down their own satellites to demonstrate their ASAT capabilities. ASATs have also been used to remove decommissioned satellites.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon#:~:text=Althoug....

[Riaz Haq]

Space Policy
Volume 47, February 2019, Pages 63-75
Space Policy
Space Programs of India and Pakistan: Military and Strategic Installations in Outer Space and Precarious Regional Strategic Stability
Author links open overlay panel Mian Zahid Hussain, Raja Qaiser Ahmed


Pakistan's Shaheen III ballistic missile has a multi-stage solid-fuel technology that can be used to launch satellites into space. The Shaheen III has a range of 1,700 miles and can hit targets up to 2,750 km away.
It was first test-fired in 2015 and displayed during a military parade in 2016. The Shaheen III is Pakistan's longest-range missile.
Pakistan has kept all tests of the Shaheen III secret. Some speculate that a variant of the Shaheen III could be Pakistan's first space launch vehicle (SLV).


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S026596461730....

Abstract

Outer space can be used for military and strategic purposes. The growing dependence of militaries on outer space assets in pursuit of operational and communicational undertakings make them productive assets and plausible targets for adversaries. Such threats push the states to take measures to secure their space assets. India is developing its dedicated military satellites for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence and Surveillance (C4ISR) capabilities. The progress in military assets in outer space, Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, antisatellite weapons, surveillance, and intelligence capabilities are a major concern for Pakistan. Strategic stability in South Asia is under question, and there is a need to analyze the changing security dynamics of the region. This article provides a detailed overview of India's recent development on BMD system and other space assets of India and Pakistan. The emerging technologies will have serious implications for strategic stability in South Asia. This article is an attempt to understand the potential security scenarios between India and Pakistan and concludes that the technological asymmetries may lead to strategic instability.