This article is written by The Soldier
On May 11, 1998, India shocked the world by conducting five consecutive nuclear tests in three days; from the 28th to the 29th of that month, Pakistan conducted six nuclear tests in response to India's provocations!
Good guys, 11 times in 20 days, the liver of the bombed Security Council and other non-proliferation nuclear weapons signatories are trembling ...
▲ Reports of the Indian-Pakistani nuclear test that year.
Pakistan is currently recognized as "the weakest of the nuclear-armed states" (what about North Korea), and its development of nuclear weapons is closely linked to its sworn enemy, India:
The establishment of the officially led Atomic Energy Commission, or Ministry of Atomic Energy, in both countries in 1954, was established in 1954, but compared to India's early progress in nuclear technology development and talent reserves, Pakistan was indeed short of both technology and talent. It was not until 1969, when the United States provided Pakistan with a small 5-megawatt nuclear reactor to counterbalance India's nuclear development, that Pakistan's nuclear technology research went fast lane.
▲ Due to its special geographical location, India is left and right between major countries, and the environment for the introduction of advanced technology is relatively relaxed.
Abdul Khadirhan (1936-2021), known as the "father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb", presided over pakistan's nuclear weapons and missile research and enjoyed a high reputation in the Muslim world.
In the Third Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Pakistan was defeated and forced to sign an independent urban alliance in the eastern region – by this time the development of nuclear weapons had been elevated to the highest priority of Pakistan's national defense and security!
However, India also believes that it has "lost" this war: with the intervention of the United States, China and the Soviet Union, it has not been able to take advantage of the situation to completely eliminate its sworn enemies!
The Third India-Pakistan War ended with India's victory and the independence of "East Pakistan" into Bangladesh.
In order to save face and calm domestic public opinion, India conducted a "peaceful nuclear explosion" in 1974 to verify the technology of the first generation of nuclear devices. Pakistan's similar equipment is believed to have been completed in 1977-78, with the first cold-blast experiments (no filled with nuclear material) conducted in 1983.
It can be seen that in the early nuclear race between India and Pakistan, Pakistan, which has weak national strength, has always been on the road of catching up.
▲ It is believed to be the only photograph of Pakistan's earliest nuclear device flowing out.
According to current estimates, the number of nuclear bombs in Pakistan is between 100 and 150, which is a theoretical number calculated based on the size and capacity of oil enrichment facilities. Unlike India, Pakistan's nuclear weapons are mainly uranium bombs.
We all know that the technical threshold for uranium enrichment is relatively low, but the output efficiency is not high, and most of the current nuclear countries use breeder reactors, which produce more plutonium or transuranic elements through the fission reaction of uranium-238. Pakistan first wanted to build plutonium bombs, and once signed an agreement with France to cooperate in the construction of neutron reactors, but then gave up due to the coercion of the United States - this American is really both a messenger and a devil on the issue of global nuclear proliferation.
▲ The principle of the breeder reactor is to use uranium 238 neutron fission reaction to produce nuclear energy at the same time, the by-product to obtain plutonium 239, and the output of nuclear material than the consumption of more, the picture shows the Japanese breeder reactor.
However, considering that Pakistan's nuclear strategy is only to deter India, the question of "presence or absence" is far heavier than "more" and "good", which is not a big deal.
In terms of practical countermeasures, Pakistan is also much more pragmatic than India:
At present, the Pakistani military's means of delivery include two types of medium-range ballistic missiles, "Gaoli" and "Shaheen", and cruise missiles called "Haft".
Among them, the "Gaoli" missile originated from North Korea's technology, is a liquid-fueled mobile ballistic missile, although slightly worse in response time, but it still solves the most critical "presence or absence" problem, and the production capacity is guaranteed, and it is believed that more than 50 sets have been deployed.
The Shaheen is a two-stage solid medium-range ballistic missile with a higher level of technology, using an integrated launch chassis with a shorter response time, and is Pakistan's true strategic deterrent weapon.
▲ The "Gaoli" missile is pakistan's earliest means of delivery, the latest model has a range of up to 2300 kilometers, deterrence to India's New Delhi is enough.
▲ "Shaheen" means "Skyhawk", is the real sense of modern medium-range ballistic missiles, with the ability to launch at any time, the Pakistani military claims that its latest model has a range of 2700 kilometers; but according to the estimates of outside experts, if the missile of this size is improved solid fuel formula to reach a range of 4000 kilometers, it is not surprising, enough to cover the entire territory of India, do not rule out that the data released by the Pakistani military has a clumsy component.
What is more noteworthy is the cruise missiles frequently tested by the Pakistani military in the past two years.
The cruise missile, known as the Haft, is said to be a reverse imitation of the Tomahawk cruise missile dropped in Pakistan by the U.S. military during the war. There are many configurations of this cruise missile, such as land-based launch, air-launched, and submarine-launched missile, and the name is not uniform.
Through the comparison of appearances published in the news photos, it can be found that the appearance of land-based launch and submarine-launched types is basically the same, and the air-launched type, which is called "Lightning", is a completely different air-to-air strike weapon.
▲ From the "Huft" cruise missile launched by the submarine, it can be seen that it is very similar to the "Tomahawk".
▲ The air-launched "Raiden" cruise missile can be seen to be much smaller in size through the comparison of the "Mirage" carrier aircraft, which is completely different from the "Huft" pictured above.
That is to say, the "weakest" nuclear state, Pakistan has established an effective "Trinity" nuclear counterattack. And their mortal enemy India has been staring at China all day in terms of strike means, persistently pursuing the range of ballistic missiles, but until now submarine-launched ballistic missiles are a chicken rib, and long-range cruise missiles have only "succeeded" half a time!
▲ India's so-called "very advanced" "fearless" cruise missile is still in the PPT stage, and the three launch tests have only succeeded "half times" - how is this algorithm?
Nuclear deterrence is not so much a last resort to counterattack as a strategic balance, and the "best nuclear missiles" are locked in silos! Pakistan has developed nuclear weapons on its own ground, met its basic strategic needs, and achieved the goal of eliminating war even the "weakest".
From this point of view, they are really mature nuclear powers...
(End of this issue)