Islamabad: In an apparent reply to the test firing of Inter Continental Ballistic Missile Agni-V by India, Pakistan on Wednesday test fired a nuclear capable ballistic missile, Shaheen-1A. Shaheen-1A, an upgraded intermediate-range ballistic missile, can target all the major cities of North and West India.
According to the Pakistani military the missile is an improved version of the Shaheen 1 with a longer range. Shaheen 1 has a range of 750 kilometers (465 miles), but there was no immediate confirmation of the new missile's range.
Earlier, Pakistan had informed India that it planned to conduct a long-range missile test in the Indian Ocean over the next five days. Islamabad had asked New Delhi to issue a notice to all commercial airlines to steer clear of the area.
The move by Pakistan came less than a week after India test fired Agni-V to join the elite club of ICBM nations.
Agni-V, the ICBM test fired by India, is capable of carrying nuclear warheads and will be crucial for India's defence against China. The missile can carry a pay-load of 1 tonne, is 17 m long, 2 m wide and weighs 50 tonnes. After the missile is inducted into India's strategic forces by 2014-2015, India will acquire a strong deterrent capacity against China.
Agni-V can cover entire China, Eastern Europe, North Eastern and Eastern Africa and even Australia if fired from the Nicobar Islands.
Only the permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, Russia, France, the United States and the United Kingdom - have such long distance missiles. Israel, too, is believed to posses ICBMs although there is no official confirmation of the same.
The missile has a range of 5,000 kilometres, a marked improvement over India's current missiles which can hit potential enemy targets over a distance of just 3,500 kilometres.
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