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The Babur missile (named after the Mughal Emperor Babur) is the first cruise missile fielded by Pakistan. It is capable of carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads and has a reported range of 500 km (310 miles). It is reported that it can hit its target with "pinpoint accuracy" and can be fired from warships, submarines and fighter jets. It is designed to avoid radar detection and penetrate undetected through a defensive system. The cruise missile is a terrain hugging missile and it has up-to-date navigation and guidance system and a high degree of maneuverability. Serial production of Babur started in October 2005.
Design In 1998, six Tomahawk cruise missiles fired at Taliban bases in Afghanistan by US destroyers mis-fired and landed in Pakistan. It is speculated that Pakistan and China seized upon the opportunity to reverse-engineer the Tomahawk and develop its own copy, though no evidence exists for this. Pakistan probably could not salvage the embedded guidance systems of the Tomahawk, since they would have been destroyed in the collision. Even if they weren't, it is exceedingly difficult to salvage logic (hardware and software design) from a deployed system. However, the propulsion system appears to approximate that of Tomahawk according to video of its launch. Chinese assistance is further speculated to have been taken to develop its guidance system. Babur's guidance is believed to be the accurate GPS/INS system. Co-ordinates are fed into it before launch and it flies to the target by following GPS waypoints. Course correction is done by INS. However it is unlikely that it uses the sophisticated TERCOM guidance of the Tomahawk as was claimed by Pakistani media. Babur is believed to be extremely accurate. It is steered by an inertial navigation system (INS). INS continuously measures the movement, speed and position of the missile. It is equipped with a precision guidance system that allows the missile to hit small targets. It is powered by a cruise turbo-fan engine which enables the missile to reach an approximate speed of 880 km/h (550 miles/h). The missile's design features can be compared with the American BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile. However, no confirmation of range or accuracy of the missile has been made. Operation On August 12th, 2005, Pakistan publicly announced that it had successfully test fired a nuclear-capable Babur cruise missile. The missile was launched from a land based transporter erector launcher (TEL). With this test, Pakistan became one of twelve countries that possess cruise missile technology. Babur is part of Pakistan's Hatf missile series. The unannounced initial launch on 11 August 2005 caught much of the international community by surprise due to the technically advance nature of the missile, as well as the fact that Pakistan did not notify India of its test-firing in accordance with the existing notification agreement, as it is limited to ballistic missile testing only. Currently, Pakistan is looking into modification that will enable the missile to be launched from its F-16, Mirage and A-5 air platforms and naval platforms such as the Agosta 90B attack submarines and its Tariq class frigates. In a statement issued by ISPR, the spokesman said that Pakistan is modifying the missile for air and sea launch configurations. He added that Pakistan is also working on a more advanced version of Babur (possibly named Babur-2) with a range of 1,000km and increased payload. After many debates, it has now been confirmed that the second version of the Babur cruise missile has been developed after some modifications. It is capable of being fired from submarines, in this case Pakistan's Agosta-90B, or fighter aircraft, such as Pakistan's JF-17, F-16, or A-5 Fantan. Surprise The sudden test of the Babur missile surprised some. The United States gave a muted response. India which, though gave no official response, was criticized by its media for not knowing beforehand. Some criticized the Indian intelligence incorrectly, despite a media report had reported Pakistan's building of a missile based on Tomahawks with Chinese nexus a few months before the test. Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf praised the Pakistani scientists and engineers by saying "it has all been done indigenously without any outside assistance. I am proud of you and the whole nation is proud of you", he told Pakistani scientists. Musharraf said Pakistan was not into an arms race with anyone but would never compromise on its strategy of defensive deterrence. "We are not in an arms race but we have to maintain the strategy of defensive deterrence and cannot compromise on that", he said. Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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