ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: Pakistan on Monday successfully carried out a test-fire of a short-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, Hatf IX (Nasr).

According to a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the test-fire was carried out with the successive launches of two missiles from a state of the art multi-tube launcher.

It said Nasr, with a range of 60km and in-flight manoeuvre capability, can carry nuclear warheads of an appropriate yield with high accuracy.

Defence experts are of the opinion that Hatf IX (Nasr) has been developed to discourage and counter the application of ‘Cold Start Doctrine’ by India, which envisages maintaining a smart rapid development force that can be launched within hours and can have the capacity to penetrate deep inside Pakistan.

Reports suggest that under the ‘Cold Start Doctrine’, the area of operation by Indian forces could be Rahimyar Khan because the city is mostly isolated and it is situated at the border of Punjab and Sindh provinces.

Because it is difficult to maintain a large force everywhere along the border, the ‘Doctrine’ suggests that an Indian rapid force can penetrate deep inside Pakistan to cut the national highway off Sadiqabad, areas around which are sparsely populated.

The experts said for countering such advance by India, especially along such remote areas with vast plains, Pakistan’s strategic planners had decided to opt for ‘Tactical Nuclear Weapons’ (TNW), a concept already put into practice by other nuclear powers.

They said the launch of Nasr missile was a move in that direction because it was capable of carrying nuclear warheads for delivery over short ranges. The strategy is known as ‘shoot and scoot’. It referred to military tactic of firing at a target with accuracy and quickly relocating to another position to avoid counter-fire from enemy’s positions, they added.

“Since Nasr is a short missile, four missiles can be loaded on one launcher,” said missile expert Syed Mohammad Ali, adding that because of the missile’s small size the launcher could be moved from one place to another for further launches.

He said the TNW concept demanded miniaturisation of nuclear warheads. Pakistan had expertise for the advanced nuclear programme, he said, adding that “such small nuclear weapons have low yield and limited impact on the area, hitting only the military formations”.

The experts say even though miniaturisation is difficult, small nuclear heads are cheaper than strategic nuclear weapons. According to them, 400 TNWs can be prepared out of one device that Pakistan detonated in Chaghi in 1998.

During the Cold War, the two main short-range missile systems deployed were FROG -7 by the Soviet-led eastern bloc and Lance by the US-led Nato forces.

According to the experts, Hataf IX (Nasr) missile system is closer but an advanced version of the Lance missile because it has an in-flight manoeuvre capability with increased accuracy.

“Additionally, Nasr has specially been designed to defeat and dodge all known anti-tactical missile defence systems,” the ISPR’s statement said.

According to experts, this addition has been incorporated into the design as India possesses many categories of anti-missile systems.